Florence Griffith Joyner

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Delorez Florence Griffith-Joyner a.k.a. Flo-Jo (December 21, 1959 – September 21, 1998) was an American athlete, still holder of the World Records in the 100 m and 200 m as of 2005. She was the wife of track star Al Joyner and the sister-in-law of Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

Already fast at an early age, Los Angeles born Florence Griffith finished fourth in the 200 m at the inaugural World Championships in 1983.

The following year, she gained much more attention, though mostly because of her extremely long and colourful fingernails rather than her silver medal in the Los Angeles Olympics 200 m.

After these Olympics, Griffith spent less time running and married 1984 Olympic triple jump champion Al Joyner. Returning at the 1987 World Championships, she finished second in the 200 m again.

She stunned the world when - known as a 200 m runner - she ran a new 100 m World Record of 10.49 in the quarter-finals of the US Olympic Trials. Many later suggested the wind meter in the stadium malfunctioned during the race, but the record is still recognized.

Now known as "Flo-Jo", Griffith-Joyner was the big favourite for the titles in the sprint events at the 1988 Summer Olympics. In the 100 m, she ran a (wind-assisted) 10.54 in the final, beating her nearest rival Evelyn Ashford by 3 tenths of a second. In the 200 m, she set a new world record of 21.34, winning by 4 tenths. Griffith-Joyner was also a runner in both the 4 x 100 m and 4 x 400 m relay teams. She won a gold medal in the former event, and a silver in the latter, her first international 4 x 400 m relay.

Throughout her career, Griffith-Joyner was dogged by rumors of drug use. Some of her track competitors insisted that her times could only be the result of using steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs, mainly because her performance improved dramatically over a short period of time (and when she was rather old for a sprinter), but also because some claimed she sported a tiny moustache; her sudden death only fuelled these rumors. In 1989, another sprinter, Darrell Robinson, claimed that Griffith-Joyner had paid him to obtain human growth hormone. She denied this, calling him a "compulsive, crazy, lying lunatic." In and out of competition, Griffith-Joyner never failed a drug test. She retired the next season.

In 1998, she died in her sleep of cavernous angioma in Mission Viejo, California. The autopsy established that performing-enhancing drugs did not kill her, although it did not establish whether she took such drugs in the past.

External links

• Official Website
• IAAF profile for Florence Griffith-Joyner
• The uneasy death of Florence Griffith Joyner

Olympic medalists in athletics (women) | Olympic Champions in Women's 100 m
Betty Robinson | Stanisława Walasiewicz | Helen Stephens | Fanny Blankers-Koen | Marjorie Jackson | Betty Cuthbert | Wilma Rudolph | Wyomia Tyus | Renate Stecher | Annegret Richter | Lyudmila Kondratyeva | Evelyn Ashford | Florence Griffith Joyner | Gail Devers | Marion Jones | Yulia Nesterenko

Olympic medalists in athletics (women) | Olympic Champions in Women's 200 m
Fanny Blankers-Koen | Marjorie Jackson | Betty Cuthbert | Wilma Rudolph | Edith McGuire | Irena Szewińska | Renate Stecher | Bärbel Eckert Wöckel (twice) | Valerie Brisco-Hooks | Florence Griffith Joyner | Gwen Torrence | Marie-José Perec | Marion Jones | Veronica Campbell