One of the greatest all round woman athletes, she won both the long jump and heptathlon in the 1988 Olympiad. She added a second Olympic heptathlon title in 1992 with a silver at long jump, having previously taken silver at heptathlon in 1984.

In July 1986 at Moscow, she became the first woman to break the 7000-point mark with a score of 7148 points in the heptathlon event. "JJK" won 12 successive heptathlon competitions between 1985 and 1991.

She has set four world records, 7148 and 7158 in 1986, and 7215 and 7291 in 1988. She also set a world long jump record at 7.45m, in 1987 and twice ran a world indoor best of 7.37 for 55m hurdles in 1989.

She went to UCLA on a basketball scholarship, but she was persuaded to try the heptathlon by assistant track coach Bobby Kersee. She married Kersee in January 1986. He did not allow her to use his name until she broke the world record, which she did at Moscow in July 1986. She won a bronze in the long jump at the Atlanta Games in 1996. But she had to drop out due to a hamstring injury.

She was a recipient of the prestigious Sullivan award in 1986.

Jackie Joyner-Kersee was a supreme athlete, no question about that.