Florence Griffith-Joyner

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Medal record
Florence Griffith with Ronald Reagan.
Women's athletics
Olympic
Gold	1988 Seoul	100 m
Gold	1988 Seoul	200 m
Gold	1988 Seoul	4x100 m relay
Silver	1984 Los Angeles	200 m
Silver	1988 Seoul	4x400 m relay
World Championships
Gold	1987 Rome	4x100 m relay
Silver	1987 Rome	200 m

Florence Griffith-Joyner (born Delorez Florence Griffith), also known as Flo-Jo (December 21, 1959 – September 21, 1998) was an American track and field athlete. She holds the world records in the 100 m and 200 m races. She was the wife of track star Al Joyner and the sister-in-law of Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

[edit] Track career

Born in Los Angeles and raised in the Jordan Downs public housing complex, Delores Florence Griffith finished fourth in the 200m at the inaugural World Championship in 1983. The following year she gained much more attention, though mostly because of her extremely long and colorful fingernails rather than her silver medal in the Los Angeles Olympics 200m. In 1985, Florence Griffith-Joyner won the final of the Grand Prix with 11.00 seconds. After these Olympics, Griffith spent less time running and married in 1984 Olympic triple jump champion Al Joyner. Returning at the 1987 World Championships, she finished second in the 200m again.She stunned the world when — known as a 200m runner — she ran a new 100m World Record of 10.49 in the quarter-finals of the US Olympic Trials. Reporters at the event commented that although the wind meter measured 0.0 — indicating no wind — there was visual evidence of considerable wind in the stadium at the time of the race. Every event on that day measured excessive wind speeds and this led many to later suggest that the wind meter in the stadium malfunctioned during the race, but the record is still recognized. Joyner's coach later stated that he believed the 10.49 run had been aided by wind. Flo-Jo never ran faster than 10.61 without excessive wind assistance that season. Known by the world as "Flo-Jo", Griffith-Joyner was the big favorite for the titles in the sprint events at the 1988 Summer Olympics. In the 100m, she ran a wind-assisted 10.54 in the final, beating her nearest rival Evelyn Ashford by .3 seconds. In the 200m quarter-final race, she set a new world record of 21.34 and won the final by .4 seconds. Griffith-Joyner was also a runner in both the 4 x 100m and 4 x 400m relay teams. She won a gold medal in the former event, and a silver in the latter, her first international 4 x 400m relay. Her effort in the 100m was ranked 98th in Channel 4's 100 Greatest Sporting Moments in 2002. She was the 1988 recipient of the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States. Griffith-Joyner retired from competitive sports shortly afterwards. Among the things she did away from the track was design the basketball uniforms for the Indiana Pacers

[edit] Death

On September 21, 1998, Griffith-Joyner died in her sleep. On October 22, the sheriff-coroner's office (required to investigate unexpected deaths) announced the cause of death as: "1) positional asphyxia 2) epileptiform seizure 3) cavernous angioma, left orbital frontal cerebrum".^[1]

The cavernous angioma referred to a brain abnormality discovered during the autopsy that made Joyner subject to seizures. It was a congenital defect, having developed before birth.^[2] In 1990 she had, according to a family attorney, suffered a grand mal seizure and had been treated for seizures in 1990, 1993 and 1994.

The direct cause of death was that she had suffocated in her pillow during a severe epileptic seizure.

[edit] Controversy

Aside from the controversy of whether her world record should have been held legal (in view of the anemometer issues), during her 1988 breakthrough year, Griffith-Joyner was dogged by rumors of drug use. Some suggested that her times could only have been the result of using steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs, mainly because she was rather old for a sprinter (she was 28 years old in 1988), her physique had changed dramatically in 1988 (showing marked gains in muscle mass and definition), and her performance had improved dramatically over a short period of time. Before the 1988 season, Griffith Joyner's best 100 meter time was 10.96 seconds — not even in the then best 40 marks of all time. In 1988 she improved that by 0.47 seconds, a time that no one has approached since. Similarly, her pre-1988 best at 200 meters was 21.96, a mark not even in the top 20 runs on the all-time list. In 1988 she improved that by 0.67 seconds, another time which has not been approached. Griffith-Joyner attributed the change in her physique to new health programs.^[3]

Her retirement from competitive track and field after her 1988 Olympic triumph further fueled the controversy, as mandatory random drug testing was about to be implemented in 1989. Under the less stringent testing schedule during her career, no evidence was found that Griffith-Joyner used performance enhancing drugs. It is now acknowledged that East Germany, for example, conducted a massive program of drug use which also went undetected under the old system of testing. Sprinter Ben Johnson tested positive at the same Olympics. The second-best world performance of all time (by an athlete who has not been caught using performance enhancing drugs) was run by the French Christine Arron (10.73).

The coroner's office was not allowed to test Griffith-Joyner's body for drugs, steroids, or growth hormones after her death underscoring the suspicions held by the athletics community.^[4]

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] External links

• Official website
• IAAF profile for Florence Griffith-Joyner
• Florence Griffith Joyner's U.S. Olympic Team bio
• Florence Griffith Joyner at Find-A-Grave
• Florence Griffith Joyner is breaking 100m World Record. Video
• Florence Griffith Joyner is breaking 200m World Record. Video

Records
Preceded by Evelyn Ashford	Women's 100m World Record Holder July 16, 1988 —	Succeeded by —
Awards
Preceded by Steffi Graf	United Press International Athlete of the Year 1988	Succeeded by Steffi Graf
Preceded by Jackie Joyner-Kersee	Women's Track & Field Athlete of the Year 1988	Succeeded by Ana Fidelia Quirot
Sporting positions
Preceded by Silke Möller	Women's 200m Best Year Performance 1988	Succeeded by Dawn Sowell