Jackie Joyner-Kersee

Jacqueline Joyner-Kersee is widely regarded as the greatest female athlete in history. She won three gold medals, one silver, and two bronze across four Olympic Games, and set the heptathlon world record of 7,291 points in 1988 — a mark so dominant it has stood for over 35 years. Sports Illustrated for Women named her the Greatest Female Athlete of the twentieth century.

Born in East St. Louis, Illinois, in 1962, Joyner-Kersee grew up in poverty in one of America's most blighted cities. She was named after First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy because her grandmother said she would "someday be the first lady of something." She attended UCLA on a basketball scholarship before focusing on track and field, where her combination of speed, strength, and endurance made her the most complete athlete in the sport.

Joyner-Kersee's Olympic career spanned from 1984 to 1996, and she competed at the highest level despite suffering from severe asthma that sometimes left her gasping for air mid-competition. After retiring from athletics, she founded the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation in East St. Louis to provide resources and opportunities to the community that raised her — investing in the same neighborhoods that the rest of the world had written off.