Jackie Joyner-Kersee on receiving a call for help from Anna Hall during Paris Olympics - "We think she’s a seasoned, senior athlete but she’s not yet"

Track and field legend Jackie Joyner-Kersee shared that she received a text asking for advice from Anna Hall during the Paris Olympics. While the American heptathlon athlete went on to finish fifth, Joyner-Kersee is optimistic about her chances of winning the gold medal at the 2028 L.A. Olympics.

After facing a heartbreaking end at the 2021 Olympic Trials following an injury to her left foot, Hall was looking like a strong contender for the Olympic gold medal following her impressive form in 2023. She scored the fifth most points in history at Götzis and later went on to win silver at the World Championships.

However, she suffered a knee injury in training in early 2024 which was followed by surgery. She later opened her season in April at the Tom Jones Memorial and continued her progress before placing first in the heptathlon at the U.S. Olympic Trials.

It was the maiden Olympic appearance for Hall in Paris. Soon after the first day of the heptathlon competition concluded on August 8, she sent a text message to former heptathlon champion Jackie Joyner-Kersee, who also had competed through pain on her debut at the 1984 Olympics.

“I just know from my own experience in never being injured before and then getting ready to go to an Olympic games ... I didn’t have anyone who could pick up the phone and call me. And I wanted to do the same for Anna, ” the three-time Olympic champion told World Athletics.

Anna Hall later managed a season's best of 1.89m in the high jump and a top-place finish in the 800m, which placed her fifth overall. She has her sights set on the L.A. 2028 Olympics, and Joyner-Kersee also believes she can win at the home games four years later.

“I want her to continue to believe that she has everything that it is going to take," Joyner-Kersee said.

“She’s doing really well. She’s only been doing it a few years and I think that you look at her now we think, she’s a seasoned, senior athlete – but she’s not yet. She’s still got loads of experiences that she’s going to have and she’s going to be able to put to good use,” she added.

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Jackie Joyner-Kersee helped Anna Hall during the Olympic Trials as well

The Olympic Games-Paris 2024 - Anna Hall competes in 800m (Source: Getty)

While Anna Hall is coached by Mike Halloway, Jackie Joyner-Kersee has regularly been offering her advice to the U.S. National Champion and has somewhat taken her into her mentorship.

Speaking of her relationship with the four-time world champion, Hall told Olympics.com at the 2024 U.S. Trials:

"There's a huge mentorship there; it's meant the world."

The 23-year-old also shared that she had received three calls from Joyner-Kersee in the week before the trials.

"She called me three times last week and said, 'I'm calling you every other day; I'm sorry if I'm annoying you.' She told me that I needed to believe in myself," Anna Hall said.

Hall concluded her season after the Paris Olympics and is currently enjoying her off-season at home. She is yet to start training for the next season, as are most of the other track and field athletes.