Posted: January 28, 2005

Athletics: Kluft says Joyner-Kersee WR "probably unbeatable"

BOSTON, Massachusetts (Jan. 27) - At a news conference today before competing in Saturday's Reebok Boston Indoor Games, Olympic gold medalist Carolina Kluft called the heptathlon world record set by Jackie Joyner-Kersee "probably unbeatable," but added: "I will try to do my best to be as good as I can. How far I can go, I have no idea."

In Boston, Kluft will contest the long jump. As it was with Joyner-Kersee, the long jump is Kluft's best event, one in which she made the Olympic final in Sydney just days after securing her heptathlon gold.

Kluft's personal best is 7001 points, making her only the third woman to break 7000 points. Joyner-Kersee's mark, however, is, 7,291, set at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, and she has the six top all-time scores before Larisa Turchinskaya of the Soviet Union weighs in with 7,007 points. If anyone is likely to approach the record, it is Kluft. Just shy of her 22nd birthday, which she will celebrate on Feb. 2, the popular Swede who is also the 2003 World Champion has not lost a heptathlon in three years.

On Saturday, Kluft (ranked #7 in the world for 2004) will go up against American Grace Upshaw (#9) in what could be a tight contest.

They join a world-class lineup that includes 2004 Olympic medalists Kenenisa Bekele, Jolanda Ceplak, Bernard Lagat, Melissa Morrison-Howard, DeeDee Trotter, Meseret Defar, Tirunesh Dibaba, Ejegayehu Dibaba, and Adam Nelson.

The 10th-annual Reebok Boston Indoor Games will be held at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center at Roxbury Community College, 1350 Tremont St., Boston, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on Jan. 29, and will be broadcast on ESPN from 5-6:30 p.m. on Jan. 30. It is also the first stop on USA Track & Field's Visa Championship Series. Tickets are available on-line at www.BostonIndoorGames.com or by calling 1-866-GO-BIG05.