Jacqueline Joyner and Bob Kersee had a unique and smooth relationship!

Updated On March 18, 2024 | Published By: shahid | In Couple , Relationship

Jacqueline Joyner is the greatest American black athlete of all times. She has always been a career-oriented woman who had the support of her mother. And she married her UCLA track coach, Bob Kersee. Know about the couple’s unique and smooth relationship.

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Jacqueline Joyner and her early life and career

American track athlete, Jacqueline Joyner always wanted to pursue a career in sports. She was a winner of the silver medal in the heptathlon at the L.A. Olympics. Later, she broke the world record at this event. Jacqueline also won the 1987 Sullivan Award. This is given to America’s outstanding amateur athlete.

Jacqueline has won several other national and international awards. She is one of the athlete who had severe bronchial asthma but overcame it and did not allow this disease to affect her career.

Jacqueline had tried to date regular people but it did not work out because they wanted her to give up her sports. They failed to understand her ambition and could not digest her success.

The athlete had to deal with a lot of inner conflicts. She wondered whether she was selfish and unrealistic. But she realised she is only ambitious and not at all selfish. Jacqueline recalls:

“My mother always told me, ‘Never get involved with an individual who doesn’t want you to do anything for yourself,’ ”

Jacqueline finds her partner in Bob Kersee

Jackie or Jacqueline grew up in East St. Louis, Illinois. It was not a neighborhood known for greatness. But Jacqueline always nurtured Olympic ambitions. She said:

“For some reason, I always believed I was going to go on. I decided I wanted to go to the Olympics. I wanted to be on TV.”

She met Bob Kersee in UCLA and found love and support from him. He was her track coach and the two wed in 1986. They have no children together.

Bob is a supportive husband. He pushed her to success, appreciated her efforts and wins, respected her and shared her triumphs. They have a unique and strong bond but is the relationship flawless?

Read here: The supportive husband and father-of-three Bryan Sanders! Learn about his career and family!

Flaws of the relationship

Jacqueline had accepted that marrying the coach had some flaws:

“The majority of the time it’s a lot of fun, being married to your coach, but at times it’s a problem,”
“He says I don’t listen, that I’m hard-headed.”

Back in 1980s, Jacqueline had revealed:

“There have been times when he’s been rough,”
“The other day, he wanted me to practice jumping off a trampoline, for the high jump. I was afraid. He said, ‘Damn it, I’m the coach out here. Do it my way or leave the track.’”

She continued to narrate:

“I couldn’t do it. He made me leave, kicked me out in front of everyone. The whole team was there, Daley Thompson was there. I was never so embarrassed in my life. I walked off real bold, trying to make like it didn’t bother me, but it was burning me up. I had to go off to the side of the track and wait for him, so we could go home together.”

She disclosed what happened after that:

“Once we got home, I said, ‘We’re home now, Bobby, we’re off the track.’ He said, ‘No, I’m still mad.’ The next day, everything was fine.”

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