When Olympic track legend Jackie Joyner-Kersee goes grocery shopping in the St. Louis area, people sometimes come up and “welcome” her home. They’ll ask, “In town for the weekend?”
And she’ll tell them she has been home for many years.
“You find yourself explaining again and again, `No, I really live here,'” Joyner-Kersee said, laughing. “It was always my dream to show kids you can be successful anywhere and then come back and impact your community. You don’t have to go live in L.A. or someplace. You should want to come home.”
Joyner-Kersee currently is teaming up with Midwest Living magazine for a program called “Champions in Education.” It will reward the schools of Midwestern individuals and groups who are improving education opportunities in their area.
A native of East St. Louis, Joyner-Kersee always has delivered the message that children, if given a chance at education, can climb out of poverty. Because she herself did that, young people listen to her.
What’s as important, though, is that she listens to them. Through her foundation, Joyner-Kersee helped ensure that a new youth center would be built in East St. Louis. It’s home to a Boys and Girls Club also named after her.
Joyner-Kersee, 41, won six Olympic medals, three of them gold, as a heptathlete and long jumper in a career that spanned two decades. Some athletes desperately miss the adrenaline rush of competition but not Joyner-Kersee. She said the energy that went into training now goes to helping kids.
“It gives your heart such a warm feeling; every day they want to hug you,” she said. “There’s nothing in the world to replace that. They just want to talk to you. It doesn’t matter what it’s about. They’ll tell you everything they’re doing that day. They need someone to listen.
“I realize how blessed I’ve been. When I was growing up, I didn’t know what a `volunteer’ was. But I knew there were people who would help when I needed it. They looked out for me.”
But she also maximized whatever opportunities she got. So along with the hugs and encouragement, Joyner-Kersee also gives kids very plain truths. She tells them athletics is not the path for everyone, but education needs to be. If they aren’t into sports, they should at least understand health and fitness. If sports are their thing, they have to look realistically at how far they can take it.
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“Most of them don’t understand the work that goes into it,” she said. “Some tell me that they’re going to the Olympics, but they don’t even realize first you have to try to be a state champion.”
While she understands very well the obstacles kids face, she said some of today’s mindsets are foreign to her.
“The word `burnout’ was something we didn’t even know about when we were young,” Joyner-Kersee said. “When girls say that to me now, I say, `Where did that come from?’ I’ve always thought that was outside influences getting into their heads.
“Too many kids don’t understand that the work you do now is not for today. It’s for months or years down the line. If they run track, I say, `You’ve got to do that mileage now, trying to be ready for May or June. If you don’t, you can’t make up for it then.'”
As for who might follow in her footsteps as the next great American heptathlete, Joyner-Kersee admits she’s a little discouraged.
“My husband [and coach Bob Kersee] and I talk about it all the time,” she said. “You see young, talented kids who have the ability to be great heptathletes. But a lot of coaches see someone with great jumping or speed and put them into other events.
“If someone has those abilities naturally, you can teach them the throwing and they can do the heptathlon. But it takes a lot of hard work.”
That’s what it always comes back to for Joyner-Kersee. It sounds like such a simple cliche … until you stop to think how many kids don’t seem to understand it, which decimates their futures.
“Kids need a road map that shows how to get where they want to go,” she said. “They see me, an Olympic champion. But I have to stress to them that it didn’t happen for me overnight. People want instant success, and that doesn’t happen in anything.”