Olympic champ Al Joyner entered in M50 triple jump at nationals
In viewing entries at Albuquerque masters nationals, I came across two Olympians. One is old reliable Patricia Porter, the 1988 Seoul high jumper. The other is a welcome surprise: Al Joyner. In 2006, he entered masters indoor nationals but didn’t show. This year, under the name of M50 Alfrederick Joyner, he’s entered in the 60-meter hurdles and his signature event: the triple jump. He won gold at 1984 Los Angeles. He’s the brother of hep legend Jackie Joyner-Kersee and was the husband of FloJo.
Al Joyner coaches at the Olympic Training Center southeast of San Diego.
Al is on the record as planning to enter New Mexico nationals in March:
In 2011, Al hopes to compete at the Masters Track and Field Championships in New Mexico. He will be practicing the advice he gives his athletes, “Proper preparation prevents poor performances.” He admits that he has questioned his sanity with a big laugh, “ When I’m in a Birkam Yoga class I ask myself, why am I here!” Then his competitive nature kicks in adding, “If it were easy everyone would be doing it.”
So finally we get to see him in action again! Welcome back, champ!
Also: Did I miss any other Olympians in the Status of Entries list? Let me know if any furriner Olympians are planning to compete at Albuquerque.
14 Responses
Al,welcome and so happy to hear you are training,and getting ready i just facebooked you today and just catching up on the scene i heared the good news, it will be like riding a bike it comes back fast,and experince will play a major role in your sucesss, well this brings alot to the usa track and feild masters ,and thats what you are a true master of the sport well wishes ,remember have fun and we all support you ,dave ashford usa track and feild ,,,go al go.our shall i say fly al fly,gob be with you .
First Olympian who comes to mind other than Al Joyner and Trish Porter is sprinter Chris Faulknor (Jamaica), who is entered in several events in M45.
All in all, the sprints look extremely strong.
First of all re: Trish Porter….don’t ever call a lady “old!” Second, while Trish is not entered in the pentathlon, she has entered several open events that are included in the pent. She made the 1988 Oly team as a high jumper but Trish was also 8th in the heptathlon in the 1988 Trials. I look forward to seeing her compete in Albuquerque.
You tell ’em, Lizzie. Old indeed. Here in Hicksville, Some of my nicer tags are “There’s the old guy”, “Have you seen the old guy?”, “Here comes the old guy.” I like what Red Buttons, entertainer, said, “Old is when someone compliments your new alligator shoes……..and you’re barefoot.” Smartty
P.S. I’m there.smile
Actually, Jerry, old is when you quote Red Buttons. 🙂
Mike
Who?
Hey, it’s “great” getting old because there are so few ahead me on the track.(and all of you behind me are headed my way).smile. Smartty
OOPS! “ahead of me”….
Go get them Al !
I’d like to see more ex-pro athletes/Olympians encouraged to participate. It’ll bring us all more notoriety. Todd Christenon is a great guy; and highly intelligent. I’m suprised the “Powers to Be” fail to take their input.
I’ve still got the video of a practice session with me, Dave Johnston, and Al at UC Irvine trying to pole vault as he was considering the decathlon. Florence was there too and she wasn’t buying that he could do it. Looked pretty darn good. Looking forward to seeing you Al!
Does this mean we could see Al in Sac in the summer for the Worlds?
Hey, Bubba, fill me in. I trained and raced on the UC Irvine track for years in the ’60s-’70s. We loved it because it was quiet and, in those days, pretty much isolated. The track surface finally became a washed out pink. Has it been resurfaced/upgraded? Smartty
Come on, people, reflect upon the following words:
Dead is bad, old is good!
I don’t care if anyone calls me old, I am 69, I have survived cancer and while neither an Olympian nor an old-er elite athlete I am still running…
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