Jackie Joyner-Kersee On Improving Communities From Within

'Greatest Female Athlete Of The 20th Century' On Improving Communities From Within
Lausanne, SWITZERLAND: Six-time Olympic medallist USA Jackie Joyner-Kersee delivers her speech after she received a trophy during the ceremony of the 2007 International Olympic Committee (IOC) Women and Sport Award, 08 March 2007 in Lausanne. Joyner-Kersee was one of six winners announced by IOC president Rogge, who honoured women from Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania. AFP PHOTO / FABRICE COFFRINI (Photo credit should read FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images)
Lausanne, SWITZERLAND: Six-time Olympic medallist USA Jackie Joyner-Kersee delivers her speech after she received a trophy during the ceremony of the 2007 International Olympic Committee (IOC) Women and Sport Award, 08 March 2007 in Lausanne. Joyner-Kersee was one of six winners announced by IOC president Rogge, who honoured women from Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania. AFP PHOTO / FABRICE COFFRINI (Photo credit should read FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images)

Before she left home on a scholarship to UCLA, before she became an Olympic athlete, winning multiple gold medals in the heptathlon and long jump, before Sports Illustrated named her the greatest female athlete of the 20th century, Jackie Joyner-Kersee was a young child in East St. Louis, Illinois, wondering why a big, oddly shaped building was being erected in the impoverished city.

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