Jackie Joyner-Kersee - The Creator
TRACK & FIELD - HEPTATHLON & LONG JUMP | BASKETBALL
ARCHETYPE: THE CREATOR
Day 8/135
Athletic Accomplishments
Sometimes, I think I’m super athletic because I play a lot of sports. I’m decent enough, serviceable. You put me on the field in a ball sport, and I’ll get the job done. You line me up in a race, and I won’t embarrass myself.
But then I reflect on athletes like Jackie Joyner-Kersee and remember that there is a class of athleticism that I could never attain. “I don’t have the genes or the talent,” I say, comforting myself for my shortcomings. But we all know that’s a cop out. I also don’t have the drive, hustle, work ethic, focus, or mastery of my craft.
Joyner-Kersee has it all. Sports Illustrated named her the Greatest Female Athlete of the 20th Century, and it’s easy to see why.
An Olympic Hall of Famer, Joyner-Kersee has competed in four Olympic games, where she won 3 gold, 1 silver, and 2 bronze medals. And she earned most of medals the hardest way possible: not through a single event (though she did win gold for the long jump), but in the heptathlon—a combined seven event competition, where she dominated her competition. Joyner-Kersee not only holds the world record—still standing after 30 years—but also the NEXT FIVE BEST SCORES. And, if that wasn’t embarrassing enough for the rest of us schlubs out here pretending we’re somebody, she accomplished all of this while having asthma.
And I don’t mean to pile it on, but there’s more. Because Joyner-Kersee was also a four-year starter for the UCLA women’s basketball team, where she scored over 1,000 points. After retiring from track and field, she even played pro ball in the American Basketball League for a year. Damn, Jackie. Leave some sports for the rest of us!
Character Archetype: The Creator
Greatness wasn’t Jackie Joyner-Kersee’s divine destiny. It was her way out. Growing up in a rough part of East St. Louis, the Joyner family believed in themselves and each other. They named their daughter Jacqueline after Jackie Kennedy, and legend has it, her grandma followed her naming with a proclamation: “Someday this girl will be the First Lady of something.” Turns out she could have been the First Lady of whatever she wanted.
Owing to her parents’ strictness, Joyner became a hyperfocused and hypersuccessful. She excelled academically and in sports, punching her ticket to UCLA, where she dominated as a two sport athlete in both basketball and track and field. Overachiever.
In track, she competed in the heptathlon, a grueling series of seven events, where she won two gold and one silver medal. Oh, and why not add on long jump while we’re at it. Total overachiever.
She still holds the heptathlon world record today—more than 30 years later—as well as the five next best scores. OKAY, JACKIE WE GET IT ALREADY.
After she retired from sports, she hasn’t stopped overachieving. She serves on the Board of Directors for USA Track & Field, and has become a prominent philanthropist. advocating for children’s education, racial equality, and women’s rights. She also founded the Jackie Joyner Kersee Foundation, which provides opportunities for kids in East St. Louis to pursue athletics and academics.
A classic overachiever, hell bent on creating something bigger, more, and better than the world ever expected from her.