Florence Delorez Griffith Joyner, also known as Flo-Jo, was an American track and field athlete.
A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek hepta (seven) and ἄθλος. A competitor in a heptathlon is referred to as a heptathlete.
Carolina Evelyn Klüft is a retired Swedish track and field athlete who competed in the heptathlon, triple jump, long jump, and pentathlon. She was an Olympic Champion, having won the heptathlon title in 2004. She was also a three-time World and two-time European heptathlon champion. She is the only athlete ever to win three consecutive world titles in the heptathlon, and was unbeaten in 22 heptathlon and pentathlon competitions from 2002 to 2007, winning nine consecutive gold medals in major championships.
Jacqueline Joyner-Kersee is an American retired track and field athlete, ranked among the all-time greatest athletes in the heptathlon as well as long jump. She won three gold, one silver, and two bronze Olympic medals in those two events at four different Olympic Games. Sports Illustrated for Women magazine voted Joyner-Kersee the Greatest Female Athlete of All-Time. She is on the Board of Directors for USA Track & Field (U.S.A.T.F.), the national governing body of the sport.
Kelly Jade Sotherton is a British former heptathlete. In the heptathlon she was the bronze medallist at the 2004 Summer Olympics and, following the disqualification of two other athletes, also at the 2008 Summer Olympics, as well as being part of the bronze medal-winning team in the Women's 4x400m relay at the 2008 Summer Olympics. As such she is one of only five women to win multiple medals in Olympic heptathlon.
Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill is a British former track and field athlete from England, specialising in multi-eventing disciplines and 100 metres hurdles. As a competitor in heptathlon, she is the 2012 Olympic champion, a three-time world champion, and the 2010 European champion. She is also the 2010 world indoor pentathlon champion. A member of the City of Sheffield & Dearne athletic club, she is a former British national record holder for the heptathlon. She is a former British record holder in the 100 metres hurdles, the high jump and the indoor pentathlon. Today, Jessica commentates for the BBC.
Sabine John is a retired East German heptathlete. She broke the world record in 1984 with a score of 6946 points, and won silver medals at the 1983 World Championships, and the 1988 Olympic Games.
The Women's Long Jump at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea had an entry list of 32 competitors, with two qualifying groups before the final (12) took place on Thursday September 29, 1988.
Olga Rypakova is a Kazakh track and field athlete. Originally a heptathlete, she switched to focus on the long jump and began to compete in the triple jump after 2007. Her first successes came in the combined events at Asian competitions – she won the women's pentathlon at the 2005 Asian Indoor Games and took the heptathlon gold at the 2006 Asian Games the following year.
Wendy Renee Brown is a retired heptathlete and triple jumper from the United States. She competed in the heptathlon at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, finishing in 18th place behind teammate Jackie Joyner Kersee's still current world record. As the event was in transition to become an official event, she set the world record in the women's triple jump twice in the mid-1980s. Because this was before the event was declared official, neither of those records were officially ratified. Brown went to the University of Southern California where she won the 1986 NCAA Indoor Championship in the Triple Jump and later winning 1988 NCAA Championship in the Heptathlon. She is still the school record holder in the Triple Jump and Heptathlon, as well as being ranked second in Long Jump and High Jump, and fifth in the Javelin throw.
The Women's Heptathlon at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Olympic Stadium on August 16 and August 17. A number of high-profile heptathletes did not feature at the competition, including defending champion Carolina Klüft and 2007 bronze medallist Kelly Sotherton, who were both injured, and Olympic silver medallist Hyleas Fountain, who failed to qualify at the national championships.
Diane Claire Guthrie-Gresham is a retired female track and field athlete from Jamaica, who specialized in the Long Jump and Heptathlon during her career.
Shana L. Williams is a retired American track and field athlete who competed in the long jump. She is a two-time Olympian, having competed in her event at the 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics. Williams won the silver medal at the 1999 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Maebashi. Her personal best of 7.01 m ranks her as the fifth best American in the long jump on the all-time lists. She is a two-time USA Indoor champion and also won the gold medal at the 1998 Goodwill Games.
Katarina Mary Johnson-Thompson is an English heptathlete. She won the gold medal at the 2019 World Championships and broke the British record with a score of 6,981 points, which ranks her at No. 6 on the all-time heptathlon lists. She also holds the British record of 5,000 points for the women's pentathlon and won gold in that event at the 2015 and 2019 European Indoor Championships, as well as the 2018 World Indoor Championships. In the long jump, she was the 2012 World Junior Champion and the 2014 World Indoor silver medalist. She also holds the British high jump records with 1.98 m outdoors (2016) and 1.97 m indoors (2015).
Brittany Borman is an American track and field athlete who competes primarily in the discus and the javelin throw. She is a four-time NCAA Track and Field Champion, winning the javelin in 2010, 2011, and 2012, and the discus in 2010. In 2012, she won the US Olympic Trials in the javelin and represented the United States at the 2012 Summer Olympics. She also represented the US at the 2016 Olympic Games.
Nafissatou "Nafi" Thiam is a Belgian athlete specializing in multi-event competition. Her mother is Belgian and her father is Senegalese. As of February 2020, Thiam holds the Belgian record in women's heptathlon, women's javelin and women's long jump. She set a new world record for the high jump discipline within a women's heptathlon competition in 2019.
Morgan Lake is a British track and field athlete, specialising in heptathlon and the high jump. She is the 2014 World Junior champion in heptathlon and high jump, and the 2015 European Junior champion in high jump.
Combined events at the Summer Olympics have been contested in several formats at the multi-sport event. There are two combined track and field events in the current Olympic athletics programme: a men's decathlon and a women's heptathlon.
The women's heptathlon competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, was won by Nafissatou Thiam of Belgium. The event was held at the Olympic Stadium on 12–13 August.
The women's heptathlon at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Olympic Stadium on 5–6 August.
