Winning is a frame of mind
for 3-time Olympic champion

By Kareem Ali
The Metropolitan

Some people point to their environment as an excuse for underachieving, but for Jackie Joyner-Kersee, success depends on one thing ÷ believing in yourself.

That recipe for success was well-received Feb. 26 in the Tivoli. Programs at all Auraria schools pooled their resources to bring the former Olympic champion to campus.

Kerseeâs lecture was the bridge between Black History Month and Womenâs History Month. She won a silver medal for the heptathlon in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. She also finished fifth in that long jump that year.

She improved her performance at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Korea, winning gold in two events, the heptathlon and the long jump. Four years later at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, she won a gold medal for the heptathlon and a bronze for the long jump. She won another bronze for the long jump at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

Kersee grew up in East Saint Louis, an area infested with drugs and crime. The lack of extracurricular activities there meant that kids had to find their own ways to entertain themselves.

One of those ways was to hold neighborhood foot races, and Kersee said those races sparked her competitive drive.

That desire to compete was exemplified by Kerseeâs decision to join the school track team even though she is asthmatic.

Kersee said she always believed she could do anything even when others said she couldnât. So she took her asthma medicine faithfully and continued with her sport.

ãI can get on TV if I go to the Olympics,ä Kersee said she thought to herself.

Kersee knew she wanted to go to the Olympics by the time she was 14. Her drive to be the best never faded throughout high school. After graduating from high school in 1980, Kersee won a track and field scholarship at the University of California at Los Angeles.

But Kersee was faced with naysayers, who advised her not to go.

ãA lot of people gave me advice not to go (to UCLA) because it was too far, and they were telling me how hard it was going to be,ä Kersee said. ãI listened only to positive people.ä

Once she got to college, Kersee said she vowed to do well both academically and athletically.

ãGod has given me the talent, but I had to be mentally ready,ä she said.
Mental and physical training catapulted Kersee to the 1984 Olympics, but a strained left hamstring hampered her performance and caused her to doubt her ability.

ãI fed myself negative thoughts, I looked in the mirror and said, ÎYou didnât do what you were supposed to do,âä Kersee said.

Kersee said self-doubt plagued her after her Olympic debut.

But Kersee said these doubts eventually gave way to a renewed drive to be a better athlete. She didnât heed negative input from herself or other people.

ãWhen people say, ÎYou canât do that,â I donât allow that in my mind,ä Kersee said. People must surround themselves with support if they going to make their dreams come true. The only limitations are the ones people put on themselves, she said.

ãYou have control of your life,ä she said. ãItâs what you want and how you value your life. Whatever you want you can have if you believe in your heart you can achieve it. If you sit and doubt yourself and listen to the naysayers, you wonât do it.ä

Kersee has since turned in her track shoes and is the president and founder of JJK & Associates, a sports marketing firm. She has also written an autobiography, titled ãA Kind of Grace,ä and is planning to build a community center in East Saint Louis.