Kluft could still compete

The Swede announced on Thursday that she would forego the defence of her Olympic title in Beijing to focus on the long and triple jumps.

"I truly enjoy watching her," said Joyner-Kersee, who set the heptathlon world record of 7,291 points in 1988. "She is a very fierce competitor and very determined.

"Mentally she reminds me of myself. I also like her attitude and her energy toward each event.

"I don't know what her training is right now, [but] Carolina still has a lot of time before the Olympics.

"If she is training as a multi-eventer and just focusing on the jumps, then at any time she could show up as a heptathlete competitor at the Olympic Games.

"I would like to see her go for it. She is definitely one of the best of her generation."

A world record for the Swede - whose score of 7,032 points at last year's Osaka World Championships made her the event's second best performer - is also possible if she competes again, Joyner-Kersee said.

"In watching Carolina, I felt she had the ability [to break it] but everything must be right," she said.

"In her case, she is a very good high jumper, but they have never been able to put the high jump and long jump together [at a high level]."

Joyner-Kersee pointed to three World Championships, an Olympic gold medal, two scores over 7,000 points and great consistency as factors that guarantee Kluft a place in the history books.

She herself won two Olympic golds in the heptathlon and one in the long jump.

"I would put her second to me," the retired American said.

She added that there could still be a spot on the Olympic podium for Kluft in the long jump.

"The key is consistency," she said. "If you are in tough competition, seven metres will come if you are consistently jumping 6.80 or 6.90."