Jackie Joyner-Kersee is a legendary athlete, one of the all-time greatest in heptathlon, long jump, 100 m hurdles and 200m. She earned 6 Olympic medals, 3 of them gold. At UCLA, she ran track and played basketball. Many years later, she was voted the Top Woman Collegiate Athlete of the Past 25 Years by the NCAA member schools. In addition to performing in the four Olympic games, she competed in the Goodwill Games and played in the Richmond Rage, a pro basketball team, as part of the American Basketball League. She is the Sports Illustrated Greatest Female Athlete of the 20th Century.
Along with Lance Armstrong, Muhammad Ali, Andre Agassi, Alonzo Mourning, Jeff Gordon and other top athletes, she formed Athletes for Hope, a group that encourages volunteering. She also established the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation which provides resources for people to improve quality of life with special attention to her hometown of East St Louis, Illinois.
