Today in Sports History #23 - Track & Field Legend Birthday (March 3, 1962)

Did you miss the Update on Today in Sports History yesterday? I bet you did! I did not write one by purpose as of three reasons:

1 - there have not been really cool events I considered as relevant

2  - I have been busy with my daughter princess preparing her dancing (after model and tech lol) career

3 - someone told me i should rather write in-depth with my heart articles instead of just doing it for the sake of the serial

Either way - what I learned is to cover only sports I can really talk about from my own experience or via a passion which will exclude moving forward sports such as gymnastics, water polo, horse riding and anything related to use animals in sports for the sake of winning a championship! 

So today we are back with a cool lady that has dominated women track sport for years - she was and still is a phenomena! HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACKIE! 

On March 3, 1962  - Jackie Joyner-Kersey was born in East Saint Louis, Illinois, USA - a true legend of Track & Field!

Jackie did rule and dominate heptathlete winning Olympics Gold medal in 1988 and 1992. Apart from still holding the world record in heptathlon she won also Gold in the long jump competition 1988 and is listed with her personal record of 7.49 m as second on the long jump all-time list. What I did not know until today is the fact that she was the first US woman to earn a gold medal in long jump and also in heptathlon.

Jackie is one of the most outstanding personalities in Sports (not only in Track & Field). After retiring she has been involved with many philanthropic efforts and has joined the Board of Directors for USA Track & Field (USATF).

During her active times I need to confess I did not like her very much, she was that dominant competitions got boring - but now I am ready to appreciate what she did! 

Jackie is one of the most famous athletes to have overcome severe asthma - well done for that again!

Sources: My own memories flavoured with some facts from German source Sport1 and a bit Wikipedia and Sports Illustrated

To see what happened in Sports History already - check the links below:

March 1: Female Jockey

February 28: Baseball drugs scandal

February 27: Baseball & Cricket

February 26: Horse Racing

February 25: NFL rules

February 24: Swimming legend

February 23: Olympics Lake Placid

February 22: NBA record

February 21: NASCAR was born

February 20: Figure Skating

February 19: Speed Skating

February 18: First Ironman

February 17: Invention of the Bike

February 16: NHL lockout

February 15: Olympic gold twice

February 14: Baseball hero

February 13: Golf Scandal

February 12: Team Canada Ice Hockey

February 11: Mike Tyson knocked out

February 10: Mark Spitz Birthday

February 9: Volleyball invented

February 8: First NFL Draft