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Alaina Novotny February 19, 2014 Research Paper Jackie Joyner-Kersee is an intelligent, generous, fun-loving famous African American who happens to also be an Olympic heptathlete. Inspite of growing up in a big family, a dangerous neighborhood, and with little money, she grew up to be the record holder of the long jump and to own many Olympic medals. Jacqueline Joyner, widely known as Jackie Joyner, was born March 3, 1962 in East St. Louis, Illinois. She was named Jacqueline after President John Kennedy’s wife. When she was born, her grandmother predicted, â€Å"Someday this girl will be the first lady of something.† (Source 2) Oddly enough, her prediction came true. The Joyner family consisted of Alfred, Mary, Al, Jackie, Angela, and Debra. Jackie’s family was Baptist. Mary and Alfred Joyner needed to work hard to help support their family, since they married at a young age. Mary worked as a nurse’s assistant at St. Mary’s Hospital. The family was very poor. Most of their dinners were bread and mayonnaise. Also, Jackie only owned one pair of shoes. Additionally, Jackie participated in many different sports. When she was younger, Jackie studied modern dance and she was in a dance group called the Fabulous Dolls. This was what Jackie thought she wanted to do with her life, until her dance coach unexpectedly died. She could not move on after that incident. Along with dance, she was also a cheerleader. She participated most of her sports at Mary E. Brown Community Center. Which included track and field, basketball, and volleyball. She excelled well in every sport she did, especially the ones she did at Mary E. Brown Community Center. Jackie started track and field when she was nine years old. By twelve, she had jumped almost seventeen f... ...ld record holder for long jump. Then, in 1987, she scored the longest legal jump that year by a woman in the United States. However, Jackie ended up retiring from track and field because of her asthma. When she was finished with track and field she joined the Richmond Rage a basketball team in the American Basketball League. She also had enough time to write and publish an autobiography in 1997 titled A New Kind of Grace which was all about the story of how she became an Olympian. Jackie Joyner is known for her determination, bravery, and of course her six Olympic medals but there is more to becoming an amazing athlete than training, you have to be dedicated. She overcame a life of little money and without having much training equipment, to live a life as an Olympian. â€Å"It’s better to look ahead and prepare, than to look back and regret.† –Jackie Joyner (Source 3)