“It is better to look ahead and prepare than to look back and regret.” – Jackie Joyner-Kersee

Sept. 24, 1988 – Jackie Joyner-Kersee sets world record in the heptathlon with 7,291 points

Jackie Joyner-Kersee is retired American athlete, ranked among the all-time greatest athletes in the women’s heptathlon as well as in the women’s long jump. She won three gold, one silver, and two bronze Olympic medals, in those two events at four different Olympic Games. Sports Illustrated for Women magazine voted Joyner-Kersee the Greatest Female Athlete of the 20th century, just ahead of Babe Didrikson Zaharias.

At the 1988 Games in Seoul, Joyner-Kersee set the still-standing heptathlon world record of 7,291 points. Five days later, Joyner-Kersee won her second gold medal, leaping to an Olympic record of 7.40 m (24 ft 3 in) in the long jump.

Video of Joyner-Kersee’s quest to win the gold and set the world record in the 1988 Olympic Decathlon: