European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 10, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday february 10. 19b7 the stars and stripes Page 23 commentary up of a girl Muscles past the hulks the world s greatest athlete Don t bet that the world s greatest athlete will Bein the super bowl the world series Centre court at Wimbledon or the prize ring at Caesars Palace. Don t bet that the world s greatest athlete is great Hulk with a Beard that positively needs shaving every Day. The world s greatest athlete May very Well look Good in High heels and mesh stockings lipstick and bracelets. The world s greatest athlete May be jus like the girl thai married dear old dad. Which is to say a very Good Case could be mad for Jackie Joyner Kersee. The world s greatest ath Lete May very Well be just a slip of a girl and not hunk at All just 5-10 and 155 who can Cook has Brown eyes and a Nice smile and a figure that could make a chorus line. Whal do you want of a great athlete Speed strength capacity for hard work versatility de termination this Jackie might be the greatest in All those departments since another Jackie Robinson also a great athlete. You want Speed in the world s greatest ath Pete How about 12.8 seconds Over the 100-meter hurdles you want the ability to jump How about23 feel 9 inches you want strength How about a 50-foot Sho put give or take an Inch or so How about a 22.8 time in the 200? to Many people do you know can throw javelin 164 feel Jackie Joyner pc Sec is not the Best in the world in any one of these seven events but she s the Best in the world at All seven. Not since the storied babe Didriksen has americ Ahad a woman who holds the world record in a Multi event Competition. Babe Didriksen might have been the greatest ath Lete other sex who Ever lived maybe of any sex. So might Jackie j. Unlike Didriksen Jacqueline Joyner did not begin life As the Village Tomboy. The babe who grew up in Beaumont Texas could always do anything the boys could do belter. Jackie Joyner probably went to the track because her brother Al who later won Agold medal in the triple jump at the los Angeles olympics went there. She concentrated on the Long jump. She became Good enough to make the olympic final where she finished fifth out jumping Carl Lewis sister Carol who was favored in the event but finishing behind the romanian jumpers for the medals. The heptathlon is less a sporting event than modern inquisition. Torquemada would have loved it. The girls who enter it Are subject to every form of torture Short of the rack and Fingernail pulling. It is a seven stage ordeal in which you Are sex heptathlon record Holder Jackie Joyner Kersee peeled to hurdle jump run throw. In Between you gasp for air with lungs that feel As if they have been Sand papered. People come out of it about in the condition they crawl out of a plane wreck. Your heart is on fat your feet Hurt your Back aches an your Teeth Don t feel too Good either. In babe  Day it was popularly supposed that women could t Lake More than three events of this grueling nature. Thai was before peo ple realized women had More endurance Ihan men. By 64, the Multi sport Competition had been expanded to five events and russian women who were built More or less along the lines of locomotives excelled at it. By 1980, the Competition was stretched to seven events still Short of the men s 10 in a decathlon but still almost As big an assignment As climbing a Snow Mountain in Bare feet and dental floss. You run the High hurdles and the 200 meters High jump and put the shot one Day. You Long jump throw the javelin and then wind up with a cardiac Nightmare the pedometers on the second. That would be hard enough on a grown Man bursting with Good health. But mrs. Scr Sec Hus band Bob is also her coach and the coach of a dozen other medal winning olympians at Urcla does it All despite a chronic Case of asthma. According to coach a Croce Jackie s is a form of the disease that is brought on by of All things exer Cise. Which is like what a great chef being allergic to flour a jockey who sneezes when exposed to Horsehair with the defection of the soviet bloc at the la. Olympics Jackie Joyner Kersche was a mild Favori Teto win the heptathlon at the coliseum in 1984. A Hept athlete like a male decals Lutc usually stands out in one event. Jackie s event is the Long jump. When she barely clipped 20 feet in her Lon jump at the 84 games she became downcast. She thought she had blown her Chance at the Gold. Shehdan to really. She was so inexperienced in International meet that she got emotional lost her concentration explains husband a Croce. Even then she finished Only 5 Points behind the Winner aussie Glynis Nunn. She beat the ultimate Winner in the Sho put the 200 and the javelin throw and lied her in the High jump. The Long jump was the Crusher. If she could have jumped within afoot of her All time Best she would have had a lock on the Gold. Jackie had to Settle for the Silver  the Goodwill games in Moscow last summer Jackie arrived with a crash. She not Only set the world record she became the first woman and. So far the Only in history to Post 7,000 Points in heptathlon. She has now broken that record too at Houston last fall she exceeded her 7,148 Moscow Points by a dime totalling 7,138. Competing in temperature sup to 126 degrees she routed her Competition by 1,024  has been calculated that if she could put together a heptathlon of her lifetime personal bests she could top 7.soo Points. Of that does t put her in the Hunt for the putative world s greatest athlete with any comeback welterweight backcourt Man or Pitcher or hitter whoever lived you la have to Tell her admirers what does. On her Way to Seoul in 88. Jackie will be starring in a few meets around the United Stales this indoor  7,000 score in heptathlon is equivalent to a 10,000 score in the decathlon. In 1912, when Jim Thorpe posted his record decathlon the King of Sweden no less saluted him with sir you Are the world s greatest  of course Thorpe could also punt the football 70yards, catch or throw one 5s Yards and play baseball for the new York giants things Jackie 1. Ken Chasn t yet proven she can do. On the other hand Don t bet she cant. Elliott captures Busch clash by Mike Harris a Molo sports write Daytona Beach Fla. Bill Elliott won t admit the obvious that he haste fastest car at Daytona International  track record Holder charged from sixth place to pull away for a relatively easy Victory sunday in the ninth annual Busch  places in t All that far Backel Liot said. And there were a lot of those Guys he passed having trouble. Passing them Don i mean All that  actually started from the pole in the id car Field after drawing that position thursday in a Blind draw. But a three car tangle at the Start of the first Jap caught Elliott napping and Pirt him Twloa bit of a  looked in my Mirror and saw a Cou ple of cars across the track and i though they might have blocked the track Elliott Laid. "1 thought they d restart therace and i kind of got out throttled by a couple of  laps Don t count in this 1210,000, 20-Fap, 50-mile sprint for the previous season s pole position winners. By the Lime the Green Flag came out again Elliott was running sixth far be Hind Leader Darrell Wall rip who appeared to be extremely Strong. Waltrip built a Lead of about 10 car lengths while Elliott was quickly moving up through the  tap four Elliott s Ford Thun Der Bird was third tucked in right behin Geoff Bodine s Chevrolet Monte Carlo is. The two of them then worked together for a couple of laps chopping into Waltrip s  zoomed by Bodine into second on Lap seven then caught Waldrip an passed him coming off the fourth turn on Lap eight. He led the rest of the  Markjr re to pass Waldrip his new teammate on the Hendrick motor sports team one Lap from the end to wind up second about one car length behind the flying Elliott. The Winner took Home j7s.ooo after averaging 197.802 Mph breaking the clash Mark of 195.865 set last year by Date Earnhardt. Winning the a bib really does feelgood and might give us some Momen Tum noted Elliott who was the favorite 62 dodgers drop giants 25 years later Phoenix Dpi Willie Davis went 2. Br-3 sunday including a three run Homer in the third inning to Lead the 1962 los Angeles dodgers to a s-2 Vicli by u ver the 1962 san Francisco Girtel in dream game 87." the Victory was revenge of sorts for the dodgers who lost a dramatic three game playoff to san Francisco for the National league Pennant 25 years ago. The two squads were brought Back to Gether for a Charity game 10 Benefit Pho enix memorial Hospital. Trailing 2-1 entering the third the dodgers placed runners on first and Sec Ond when Norm Sherry singled to left and Maury wills walked.  Davis Tooka Ball from san Francisco going to make a few adjustments for the Pitcher Billy Pierce then lined one foul 500. Down the right-field1 line. Davis also sent to win the pole in monday s rain delayed opening qualifying session for sunday Daytona 500. But we be still got a lot of work to  first Lap incident started when Earnhardt got squeezed in the Middle of the pack and lagged Ibe right rear of Terry Labonic s car sending it spinning into Ricky Rudd. Both Laboule and Rudd wound up hitting the Wall and after limping Back to the pits retired from the race. Earnhardt came Back to finish fourth followed by Alan Kulwicki the Rookie of the year last season and a wild Cor Dentry in the cosh. Cale Yarborough was next followed by Benny Parsons and Harry gang All on the same Lap with the leaders. Last place was Worth $10,000 in the Rich dash on Daylong s 2.i-mile Iri Oval. Bodine the defending Daytona 500 Champion said i Learned we re in Good shape. The car handled Good and we re As for Elliott Bodine said he s Strong. We thought he would be and he the next Pilch Down the right Field line but it stayed just inside the foul pole for what proved to be the game winning hit