My hero: Fountain on Joyner-Kersee
US Olympic heptathlon silver medallist Hyleas Fountain talks to spikesmag.com about her total respect for her compatriot and world heptathlon record holder Jackie Joyner-Kersee.
“When I was just a little kid at school and had to had to write a paper about somebody it was always Jackie Joyner-Kersee. I used to read about her all the time.
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When I first met her at UGA, I was by the high jump and it was like. 'oh my God!' I was a little nervous and then I met her again at the 2008 Olympic Trials after I’d broken her record at the hurdles.
We talked, talked and talked, it was kind of cool. I said to her I even had a picture of you on my wall which was signed by some random guy who gave it to me at university.
"She was so sweet to me and she said how glad she was I’d broken her record. She was cool about it and said she couldn’t believe I’d broken her record. She was awesome about it.
"I first remember watching her compete at the Atlanta Olympics and I remember her communicating with her brother who was in the long jump. I also remember watching a documentary on HBO of her and her brother talking about their mother who had passed away.
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She was always determined always had a great game face on and I thought that the person that I want to be like be. Even if things weren’t going good for her in a competition and she pulled a hamstring, she still finished and I thought that was awesome.
What she taught me is that even if something is wrong you can still sometimes pull through.
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Before the Olympics she advised me to keep my head up and I think that helped me a little bit when the long jump was not going so well for me in Beijing. She knows what you are going through."
See Jackie Joyner-Kersee's world record here.
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