Joyner-Kersee's exploits mark her out as the greatest all-round female athlete of the modern era.
She was inspired to take up the heptathlon after seeing the film 'Babe', the story of multi-eventer Babe Didrikson, and overcame severe problems with allergies and asthma as a child to dominate the late 1980s and early 1990s.
She had already won heptathlon and long jump gold at the Worlds in Rome in 1987, heptathlon gold at the 1988 and 1992 Olympics and long jump gold at the latter.
In Stuttgart she faced a tough battle with Germany's Sabine Braun and going into the final event, the 800m, needed to beat her rival by 0.5secs. Like the ultimate champion she was, she defied the home crowd and pulled away at the bell, sprinting the last 100m to take gold.
Relive the action