In elementary and middle school, Jackie Joyner-Kersee spent her afternoons tirelessly practicing on the track, only to finish dead last in her meets and left dreaming of making it on the podium. She never imagined Sports Illustrated for Women would one day name her the Greatest Female Athlete of the 20th Century.

Joyner-Kersee is a retired American athlete who competed in four different Olympic Games. She is ranked among the all-time best female athletes in the long jump and the heptathlon, a contest made up of seven track and field events. She spoke Thursday in the Woulfe Alumni Hall about her inspiration, experience in the Olympics and the adversity she faced throughout her life.

Growing up in East St. Louis, she developed a passion for athletics, particularly track and field, at a young age and began training at her local community center.

Early in her training, Joyner-Kersee wasn’t winning races – or even coming close. She said a turning point in her attitude was when she realized she should only focus on her personal improvements and not those of others.

“If I could improve a tenth of a second while running or a half an inch while jumping, regardless of where the other girls placed, that meant the work was paying off,” Joyner-Kersee said.

After repeatedly practicing for eight or nine hours a day, her coaches saw potential. It was then that she travelled across the country to focus on training and participate in Olympic time trials.

Joyner-Kersee was accepted to UCLA as a player on both the women’s basketball and women’s indoor track and field teams. Homesickness, particularly being away from her mother, was a large conflict early in her collegiate career, but the biggest obstacle came at the end of her freshman year.

When she was 18, Joyner-Kersee’s mother died of meningitis. Her mother’s passing was the toughest challenge she’s ever had to overcome.

“I remember (my mom) telling me, ‘You take full advantage of today, because tomorrow isn’t promised to you,’” Joyner-Kersee said.

Joyner-Kersee applied that advice to the rest of her life and went on to receive six medals: three gold, one silver, and two bronze, at four different Olympic Games.

Although she won gold in the heptathlon at the 1988 and 1992 Olympics, Joyner-Kersee said her silver medal in that event at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles – her first appearance at the Olympics – made the biggest difference in her athletic career. She participated in the heptathlon only six weeks after a serious leg injury.

Joyner-Kersee said she was constantly worried about her leg leading up to her events. Then, while participating in the events, she said she wasn’t thinking about the execution, but only anticipating pain in her leg. It was not her injury, but the constant worry that she attributes to her second-place finish that day.

“Since that event, I’m always looking for the solution to the problem, not trying to make the problem bigger than it is,” Joyner-Kersee said. “In life … you can get all the support in the world, but your mom, your dad, your brother, your sister, your coach, your teammates, each of your professors, they can’t do the work for you. You have to do the work yourself with no excuses.”

Freshman Katherine Jensen of the women’s track and field team said she can apply the “no excuses” mentality every day in practice and competition.

“I think everyone can learn about her advice to not use an injury as an excuse,” Jensen said. “I just had a stress fracture for all of indoor season and couldn’t compete, and I think it’s easy to go into outdoor season and say, ‘Oh, I’m just recovering’ but realistically, you just have to try your hardest to get back to where you were to make yourself the best you can be.”

Now, Joyner-Kersee is known not only as a great athlete but as an outstanding philanthropist. She, along with 11 other athletes, including Muhammad Ali, Lance Armstrong, Mia Hamm and Cal Ripken Jr., co-founded Athletes for Hope, a network of professional athletes who participate in charities.

She also established the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation, which provides youth, adults and families with athletic lessons and other resources to improve their quality of life, just like her own community center once did for her.

St. Thomas’ football coach, Glenn Caruso, said he was glad students had the opportunity to hear from Joyner-Kersee and thinks any athlete can learn a lesson from her mentality, whether or not they want to pursue athletics after college.

“I think a lot of people would agree that (Joyner-Kersee) is one of the most mentally tough athletes out there,” Caruso said. “Mental toughness is not something that’s indigenous to my sport or her sport or anyone else’s. I think if people took the time to really listen to the message, it was less about winning the gold and more about taking the negatives in your life and set backs and using them to help engineer your mental toughness, and she’s a prime example of that.”

Lauren Andrego can be reached at andr0090@stthomas.edu.