Athletics at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Women's heptathlon

These are the official results of the Women's Heptathlon competition at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. There were a total number of 32 entrants, with three non-starters. The competition was held on September 23, 1988, and September 24, 1988.[1]

Women's heptathlon
at the Games of the XXIV Olympiad
Pictogram of athletics
VenuesOlympic Stadium
DatesSeptember 23–24
Competitors30 from 19 nations
Winning result7291 WR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Jackie Joyner-Kersee
 United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Sabine John
 East Germany
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Anke Behmer
 East Germany
← 1984
1992 →

Records

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These were the standing World and Olympic records (in points) before the 1988 Summer Olympics.

World Record 7215   Jackie Joyner-Kersee Indianapolis (USA) July 16, 1988
Olympic Record 6390   Glynis Nunn Los Angeles (USA) August 4, 1984

The following World and Olympic record was set during this competition.

Date Event Athlete Points OR WR
September 24, 1988 Final   Jackie Joyner-Kersee (USA) 7291 OR WR

Summary

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Coming in to the Olympics, Jackie Joyner-Kersee stood well ahead of the world. As a 26 year old, she was at the peak of her career and the returning silver medalist had steadily improved since the first Olympic heptathlon. In the previous two years, she had amassed the top five marks in history, including the world record of 7215, set at the Olympic Trials. Along the way, she also tied Heike Drechsler for the world record in the long jump. She was famously coached by her husband Bob Kersee, who also coached her sister in law Florence Griffith Joyner to the astounding 10.49 world record in the 100 metres at those same trials. #2 in history Sabine John was also in this competition, but her personal best was more than 200 points behind Joyner-Kersee. Her GDR teammate Anke Behmer was the #5 performer in history and almost another 200 points behind John. Soviet Natalya Shubenkova was the #4 performer in history.

Running head to head against her chief rivals, JJK recorded an Olympic heptathlon best 12.69 in the third heat of the first event, the 100 metres hurdles. John's 12.85 still left her 25 points behind. In the high jump JJK jumped clean through 1.83, which is where Behmer topped out and John could not clear, then she made 1.86 on her second attempt to tie three others for the event lead. After 2 events, JJK already had over a hundred-point lead. The competition appeared settled, the world record was clearly her target as her husband/coach reinforced with every instruction from the stands. In John's best event, the shot put, her 16.23m did gain 28 points on Joyner-Kersee's second place 15.80m lifetime personal best, nobody else was less than a metre behind John. Concluding the first day, Joyner-Kersee's Olympic heptathlon best 22.56 left Behmer in second place, more than a half second behind.

JJK started the second day with a 7.27 m (23 ft 10 in) long jump. Not only was it the Olympic heptathlon best, it was the Olympic record for the long jump. To date it remains the World heptathlon best. John, in second place, was more than a half metre behind and she was 181 points behind in the competition. The sixth event, the javelin, was the first event Joyner-Kersee didn't dominate, with her 45.66m, she was only fourth best. But among the leaders, Shubenkova was the only one to gain points. Joyner-Kersee would enter the final event, the 800 metres, with a 429-point lead. But before that she needed to take another excursion across the stadium to compete in the qualifying round of the long jump. Her 6.96m first attempt surpassed the automatic qualifier. It would take a 2:13.6 to equal the world record, a time that was within Joyner-Kersee's range, she had run a half a second faster in the 1984 Olympics. And with the huge lead, she would virtually have to collapse to fail to win the gold. Going for the world record, Joyner-Kersee keyed off of the three East German athletes, all with superior 800 metre credentials to hers. When the three surged on the final backstretch, to break away from Shubenkova, Joyner-Kersee went with them. Behmer sprinted the final straightaway to take a 2:04.20 event victory while JJK struggled the last 100 metres, getting caught by Shubenkova before the line. While 4 of her top 5 pursuers took back points in the 800, she put another 76 points onto the world record. Her final score, 7291. To date, no other athlete has exceeded 7032, that by Carolina Klüft in the 2007 World Championships. Joyner-Kersee would win the long jump the following day, with the still standing Olympic Record of 7.40 m (24 ft 3+14 in), beating her day-old record. And she would defend the heptathlon title in 1992. John scored 6897 to take silver, her lifetime personal best. Behmer also scored her personal best 6858 to take the bronze medal.

Final

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  The highest mark recorded in each event is highlighted in yellow
Rank Athlete Nationality 100m H HJ SP 200m LJ JT 800m Points Notes
  Jackie Joyner-Kersee   United States 12.69 1.86 15.80 22.56 7.27 45.66 2:08.51 7291 WR
  Sabine John   East Germany 12.85 1.80 16.23 23.65 6.71 42.56 2:06.14 6897
  Anke Behmer   East Germany 13.20 1.83 14.20 23.10 6.68 44.54 2:04.20 6858
4 Natalya Shubenkova   Soviet Union 13.51 1.74 14.76 23.93 6.32 47.46 2:07.90 6540
5 Remigija Sablovskaitė   Soviet Union 13.61 1.80 15.23 23.92 6.25 42.78 2:12.24 6456
6 Ines Schulz   East Germany 13.75 1.83 13.50 24.65 6.33 42.82 2:05.79 6456
7 Jane Flemming   Australia 13.38 1.80 12.88 23.59 6.37 40.28 2:12.54 6351
8 Cindy Greiner   United States 13.55 1.80 14.13 24.48 6.47 38.00 2:13.65 6297
9 Zuzana Lajbnerová   Czechoslovakia 13.63 1.83 14.28 24.86 6.11 43.30 2:16.05 6252
10 Svetlana Buraga   Soviet Union 13.25 1.77 12.62 23.59 6.28 39.06 2:14.74 6232
11 Marjon Wijnsma   Netherlands 13.75 1.86 13.01 25.03 6.34 37.86 2:11.49 6205
12 Svetla Dimitrova   Bulgaria 13.24 1.80 12.02 23.49 6.19 37.62 2:15.73 6171
13 Corinne Schneider   Switzerland 13.85 1.86 11.58 24.87 6.05 47.50 2:14.93 6157
14 Sabine Braun   West Germany 13.71 1.83 13.16 24.78 6.12 44.58 2:22.82 6109
15 Satu Ruotsalainen   Finland 13.79 1.80 12.32 24.61 6.08 45.44 2:17.06 6101
16 Dong Yuping   China 13.93 1.86 14.21 25.00 6.40 38.60 2:26.67 6087
17 Kim Hagger   Great Britain 13.47 1.80 12.75 25.47 6.34 35.78 2:18.48 5975
18 Wendy Brown   United States 14.07 1.83 12.69 24.83 6.13 44.34 2:26.43 5972
19 Joanne Mulliner   Great Britain 14.39 1.71 12.68 24.92 6.10 37.76 2:18.02 5746
20 Jacqueline Hautenauve   Belgium 14.04 1.77 11.81 25.61 5.99 35.68 2:13.90 5734
21 Ragne Kytölä   Finland 14.31 1.77 11.66 25.69 5.75 39.48 2:13.35 5686
22 Conceição Geremias   Brazil 14.23 1.71 12.95 25.50 5.50 39.64 2:24.02 5508
23 Hsu Huei-ying   Chinese Taipei 14.85 1.68 10.00 25.23 5.47 39.14 2:17.30 5290
24 Ji Jeong-mi   South Korea 14.53 1.71 10.83 26.61 5.50 39.26 2:19.17 5289
25 Iamo Launa   Papua New Guinea 16.42 1.50 11.78 26.16 4.88 46.38 2:43.43 4566
Sainiana Tukana   Fiji 15.60 NM 8.61 26.37 5.12 DNS DNF
Sabine Everts   West Germany 13.74 1.71 11.54 DNS DNF
Chantal Beaugeant   France 13.78 1.80 12.79 DNS DNF
Judy Simpson   Great Britain 13.71 1.77 DNS DNF
Yasmina Azzizi   Algeria DNS DNS
Yvonne Hasler   Liechtenstein DNS DNS
Tineke Hidding   Netherlands DNS DNS

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Athletics at the 1988 Seoul Summer Games: Women's Pentathlon". sports-reference.com. Retrieved 28 January 2018.[dead link]
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