Respect Comes to the ‘World’s Greatest Athlete’

BARCELONA, Spain —  Jackie Joyner-Kersee was anointed as the greatest athlete in the world Sunday night, christened personally by Bruce Jenner, the man who for years wore that mantle.

After Joyner-Kersee won the Olympic gold medal in the seven-event heptathlon, after she jogged the requisite victory lap in Montjuic Stadium, waving a tiny American flag, after she hugged her husband, after she cried and laughed, she was approached quietly by Jenner, the former world record-holder in the decathlon and gold medalist in 1976.

“You have proved to the world that you are the greatest athlete who ever lived, male or female,” Jenner told Joyner-Kersee. “You have done what no one has ever done.”

After years of snubs, three Olympic gold medals, little respect and even less credit, Joyner-Kersee finally allowed herself to agree with Jenner.

“It’s inspiring,” she said, flashing her wall-to-wall smile. “It was a joy and a relief, after a tough two days. People see me as being invincible or see me as being the best. But I find myself being humbled every day.”

Her victory in the two-day competition--the women’s counterpart of the men’s 10-event decathlon--was the second consecutive Olympic gold medal in the heptathlon for Joyner-Kersee, who holds the world record with 7,291 points. She scored 7,044 points this time and remains the only woman ever to score more than 7,000 points.

She also joins Wyomia Tyus, the gold medalist in the 100 meters in 1964 and 1968, as the only American woman to win back-to-back gold medals.

Irina Belova of the Commonwealth of Independent States was second with 6,845 points, and Sabine Braun of Germany, who battled bitterly with Joyner-Kersee here, was third with 6,649.

Joyner-Kersee’s victory may bring her the recognition that many in the sport have argued she deserves. Not only has she dominated the heptathlon since 1984 but, unlike most multi-event athletes, Joyner-Kersee is also world class in a single event. At the 1988 Seoul Games, she won the long jump as well as the heptathlon.

But her modest and self-effacing manner has contributed to Joyner-Kersee’s obscurity.

Not here. Joyner-Kersee never trailed in the competition, but the event’s arduous schedule makes little allowance for mistakes. Joyner-Kersee led after the first day’s events--the 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shotput and 200 meters--but knew from her point total that she had lost any chance of bettering her own world record.

Winning became the new task. Braun was proving to be a pesky opponent. Joyner-Kersee well remembered her only loss to Braun, in last year’s World Championships at Tokyo. Since taking the silver medal in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, Joyner-Kersee, 30, had not lost a heptathlon nor been behind during one.

At Tokyo, Joyner-Kersee was leading until the final event of the first day, the 200 meters. Going into the curve of that race, Joyner-Kersee pulled a hamstring muscle and fell to the track. She was unable to finish the competition.

Braun went on to win the championship and reminded the world of her status by pointing her forefinger skyward, indicating, “I am No. 1.”

Joyner-Kersee, who attended UCLA and lives in Van Nuys, said she has never forgotten that day.

That incident provided the heptathlon’s dramatic underpinning here. Over two days, Braun and her teammates played elaborate mind games with Joyner-Kersee, seeking to intimidate her.

What happened between Joyner-Kersee and the three German athletes was a combination of sports gamesmanship and residual Cold War ill will toward American athletes.

In the bygone days of track and field, Eastern European teams would work together against Western athletes. With the fall of the Iron Curtain, much of the tag-team attitude in sports has vanished. The East has generally adopted the West’s me-first spirit.

That is what made the mind games so unusual. The German women attempted to distract and disrupt Joyner-Kersee. They walked in her line of vision and performed distracting calisthenics while she was competing. Even the most common sports etiquette was not observed.

Sunday, Joyner-Kersee and Braun bumped into each other when neither was willing to give way while walking around the long jump pit.

Joyner-Kersee shrugged for the second day when asked about the tactics.

“I don’t have time for that,” she said, dismissing the subject. “My attitude in the heptathlon is easygoing. They think they can get me riled up.”

Braun’s response was categorical: “The accounts are false,” she said. “She’s hallucinating.”

Nevertheless, Joyner-Kersee clung to the maxim: Get mad, then get even.

She began the second day with a resounding leap in the long jump, 23 feet 3 1/2 inches, for 1,206 points. That, combined with a poor jump by Braun, proved the turning point. Joyner-Kersee cruised through the next event, the javelin, and emerged with a 298-point lead, with only the 800 meters left.

It is a race that comes, cruelly, after two long days and six taxing events. The tall, strong heptathletes seem ill-suited to running the distance and they struggle ungainly through it. Belova knew she had to run 23 seconds faster than Joyner-Kersee if she hoped to win. It was an unthinkable margin, but the Russian woman tried gamely.

A thick mist rolled into the stadium during the race and left the air heavy. Belova took off at the gun and bolted into second place. Joyner-Kersee settled into fifth. After the first lap, Belova began craning her head desperately to find Joyner-Kersee, who was running easily behind her.

Belova raced into the lead, but Joyner-Kersee stayed in contact. Even as Belova crossed the finish line, she knew she had not won the gold medal. She draped her arms around the winner, who smiled broadly and said: “Oh my God.”

While her male counterparts are awarded, automatically, the title of world’s greatest athlete after they win the Olympic decathlon gold medal, Joyner-Kersee earned her title after a Niagara of sweat and toil. Her christening may have come eight years later than it should have.

Jenner acknowledged this Sunday night. Perhaps more importantly, Joyner-Kersee did, too.

OTHER OLYMPICS COVERAGE: A4, C1, C6-14