Florence Griffith Joyner

Florence Delorez Griffith Joyner[4] (born Florence Delorez Griffith;[2] December 21, 1959 – September 21, 1998), also known as Flo-Jo, was an American track and field athlete. She set world records in 1988 for the 100 m and 200 m. During the late 1980s she became a popular figure due to both her record-setting athleticism and eclectic personal style.

Florence Griffith Joyner
Co-chair of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports
In office
1993–1998
Serving with Tom McMillen[1]
PresidentBill Clinton
Preceded byArnold Schwarzenegger (as chairman)
Succeeded byLee Haney (as chair)
Personal details
Born
Florence Delorez Griffith[2]

(1959-12-21)December 21, 1959[3]
Los Angeles, California, U.S.[3]
DiedSeptember 21, 1998(1998-09-21) (aged 38)[3]
Mission Viejo, California, U.S.[3]
Resting placeEl Toro Memorial Park, Lake Forest, California, U.S.
Sports career
Nickname(s)Flo-Jo[3]
National teamUnited States
Height5 ft 7 in (170 cm)[3]
Weight126 lb (57 kg)[3]
Event(s)100 meters, 200 meters
ClubTiger World Class Athletic Club
West Coast Athletic Club
Retired1988
Sports achievements and titles
Personal best(s)100m: 10.49 w WR[note 1]
200m: 21.34 WR
400m: 50.89
4 × 100m: 41.55
4 × 400m: 3:15.51 AR
Medal record
Representing the  United States
Olympic Games
1988 Seoul 100 m
1988 Seoul 200 m
1988 Seoul 4×100 m
1984 Los Angeles 200 m
1988 Seoul 4×400 m
World Championships
1987 Rome4×100 m
1987 Rome200 m

Griffith Joyner was born and raised in California. She was athletic from a young age and began running at track meets as a child. While attending California State University, Northridge (CSUN) and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), she continued to compete in track and field. While still in college, she qualified for the 100 m 1980 Olympics, although she did not actually compete due to the U.S. boycott. She made her Olympic debut four years later, winning a silver medal in the 200 meter distance at the 1984 Olympics held in Los Angeles. At the 1988 U.S. Olympic trials, Griffith set a new world record in the 100 meter sprint. She went on to win three gold medals at the 1988 Olympics.

In February 1989, Griffith Joyner abruptly retired from athletics. She remained a pop culture figure through endorsement deals, acting, and designing. She died in her sleep as the result of an epileptic seizure in 1998 at the age of 38. She is buried at the El Toro Memorial Park in Lake Forest.

Early life

Griffith was born in Los Angeles, California, the seventh of eleven children born to Robert, an electrician, and Florence Griffith, a seamstress.[2][5] The family lived in Littlerock, California, before Florence Griffith moved with her children to the Jordan Downs public housing complex located in the Watts section of Los Angeles.[6][7]

When Griffith was in elementary school, she joined the Sugar Ray Robinson Organization, running in track meets on weekends.[7] She won the Jesse Owens National Youth Games two years in a row, at the ages of 14 and 15.[8] Griffith ran track at Jordan High School in Los Angeles.[7]

Showing an early interest in fashion, Griffith persuaded the members of the track team to wear tights with their uniforms.[8] As a high school senior in 1978, she finished sixth at the CIF California State Meet behind future teammates Alice Brown and Pam Marshall.[9] By the time she graduated from Jordan High School in 1978, she had set high-school records in sprinting and long jump.[10]

Career

Griffith attended the California State University at Northridge, and was on the track team coached by Bob Kersee.[11][12] This team, which included Brown and Jeanette Bolden,[12][13][14] won the national championship during Griffith's first year of college.[10] However, Griffith had to drop out to support her family, taking a job as a bank teller. Kersee found financial aid for her and she returned to college in 1980, this time at University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) where Kersee was working as a coach.[7][12]

Brown, Bolden, and Griffith qualified for the 100-meter final at the trials for the 1980 Summer Olympics (with Brown winning and Griffith finishing last in the final). Griffith also ran the 200 meters, narrowly finishing fourth, a foot out of a qualifying position.[8] However, the U.S. Government had already decided to boycott those Olympic Games mooting those results.[15] In 1983, Griffith graduated from UCLA with her bachelor's degree in psychology.[10]

Olympic runner

Griffith finished fourth in the 200-meter sprint at the first World Championship in Athletics in 1983.[16] In the next year, she qualified for the Olympics in the 200-meter distance with the second fastest time at the United States Olympic Trials, held in Los Angeles.[17] Evelyn Ashford, another UCLA alumna and early favorite to medal,[18] dropped out of the 200-meter due to injury.[17] Griffith went on to win a silver medal in the 1984 Summer Olympics.[10]

After the 1984 Olympic Games, she spent less time running.[19] Griffith continued to run part-time,[19] winning the 100-meter IAAF Grand Prix Final with the time of 11.00 seconds.[20] She did not compete at the 1985 U.S. National Championship.[21] That same year, she returned to working at a bank and styled hair and nails in her spare time.[10] She married Al Joyner, the Olympic triple jump champion of 1984, in 1987.[22]

She returned to athletics in April 1987.[23] Four months later, at the 1987 World Championships in Rome, Griffith Joyner finished second in the 200-meter sprint.[24][23] Her success during the 1987 season resulted in being ranked second in Track and Field News' 1987 world rankings.[24] The 200 meters remained a stronger event for her than the 100 meters, where she was ranked seventh in the United States.[24]

Before the 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials, Griffith Joyner continued to work with her coach, and now husband's brother-in-law, Kersee, two days a week, but with her new husband coaching her three days a week.[25] She ran the 100 meter in 10.96-seconds at the 1987 Cologne Grand Prix Track and Field Meet, a personal best but the mark was not even in the top 40 of all time.[26][27] She continued to improve, again setting a personal best of 10.89 in the 100 meters in San Diego on June 25, 1988, but still remained shy of then American record holder Evelyn Ashford's three best times.[28] A week before the trials she ran a tune-up race in 10.99 in Santa Monica.[29]

In the first race of the quarterfinals of the U.S. Olympic Trials, she stunned her colleagues when she sprinted 100 meters in 10.49 seconds, a new world record by a margin of 0.27s over the previous record held by Evelyn Ashford.[8] Over the two-day trials, Griffith Joyner recorded the three fastest times for a woman at 100 meters: 10.49 in the quarter-final, 10.70 in the semifinal, and 10.61 in the final.[30][23] At the same Olympic trials, she also set an American record at the 200-meter distance with a time of 21.77 seconds.[31]

The 100-meter record was by far the largest improvement in the world record time since the advent of electronic timing, and still stands. This extraordinary result raised the possibility of a technical malfunction with the wind gauge which read at 0.0 m/s - a reading at odds with the windy conditions on the day, with high wind speeds being recorded in all other sprints before and after this race as well as the parallel long jump runway at the time of the Griffith Joyner performance. All scientific studies commissioned by the IAAF and independent organisations have since found there was an illegal tailwind of between 5 m/s – 7 m/s at the time. The IAAF has not annulled the result, but since 1997 the International Athletics Annual of the Association of Track and Field Statisticians has listed it as "probably strongly wind assisted, but recognized as a world record."[32] The fastest non-wind-assisted performance would then be Griffith Joyner's 10.61s in the final the next day.[33] This mark was equaled by Elaine Thompson-Herah in the 2020 Olympic Final before being surpassed by Thompson-Herah at the post-Olympics Eugene Diamond League meeting in August 2021.[34] Thompson-Herah clocked 10.54 seconds, officially the second fastest time in women's 100 m history.

Following the Olympic trials, in late July 1988, Griffith Joyner left coach Kersee saying she wanted a coach able to provide more personal attention. Another contributing factor was her unhappiness with the lack of sponsorship and endorsement opportunities.[35] In addition to being her coach, Kersee was Griffith Joyner's manager, as he required all the athletes he coached to use his management services too.[35] Griffith Joyner's decision to sign with personal manager Gordon Baskin therefore necessitated the coaching change.[35][36] She left UCLA for UC Irvine with her husband serving as full-time coach.[25]

By now known to 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 100-meter final, she ran a 10.54, beating her nearest rival to the world record, Evelyn Ashford, by 0.30 seconds. In the 200 meter semifinal, she set the world record of 21.56 seconds and then broke this record by 0.22 seconds in winning the final with a time of 21.34 seconds.[37] Like her 100-meter world record, this mark still stands.

At the same Olympics, Griffith Joyner also ran with the 4 × 100 m relay and the 4 × 400 m relay teams. Her team won the 4 × 100 m relay and finished second in the 4 × 400 m relay.[19] This was her first internationally rated 4 × 400 m relay. She left the games having won four Olympic medals, three gold and one silver.[38] At the time, her medal haul was the second most for female track and field athlete in history, behind only Fanny Blankers-Koen who won four gold medals in 1948.[38]

In February 1989, Griffith Joyner announced her retirement from racing.[36][39] She cited her new business opportunities outside of sprinting.[10][39][40] The month after announcing her retirement, she was selected as the winner of the James E. Sullivan Award of 1988 as the top amateur athlete in the United States.[41]

Comeback attempt and other activities

Griffith Joyner's success at the 1988 Olympics led to new opportunities.[36][40] In the weeks following the Olympics, she earned millions of dollars from endorsement deals, primarily in Japan. She also signed a deal with toy maker LJN Toys for a Barbie-like doll in her likeness.[36]

Among the things she did away from the track was to design the basketball uniforms for the Indiana Pacers NBA team in 1989.[10] She served as co-chair of President's Council on Physical Fitness.[19] She made a guest appearance as herself on a season 4 episode of 227, and appeared in the soap opera Santa Barbara in 1992, as "Terry Holloway", a photographer similar to Annie Leibovitz.[42][43]

In 1996, Griffith Joyner appeared on Charlie Rose and announced her comeback to competitive athletics, concentrating on the 400-meter run.[44] Her reason was that she had already set world marks in both the 100 m and 200 m events, with the 400 m world record being her goal. She trained steadily leading up to the U.S. Olympic trials in June. However, tendonitis in her right leg ended her hopes of becoming a triple-world-record holder. Al Joyner also attempted a comeback, but he was unable to compete due to an injured quadriceps muscle.[45]

Style

Beyond her running prowess, Griffith Joyner was known for her bold fashion choices.[30][46] She appeared at the World Championships in 1987 in Rome wearing a hooded speed skating body suit.[46][22] In April 1988 she started wearing a running suit with the right leg of the suit extending to the ankle and the left leg of the suit cut off, a style she called the "one-legger".[30][46][22] The running suits also had bold colors such as lime green or purple with white bikini bottoms and embellished with lightning bolts.[30]

Her nails also garnered attention for their length and designs.[30][22] Her nails were four inches long with tiger stripes at the 1988 Olympic trials before switching to fuchsia.[30] For the Olympic games themselves, she had six inch nails painted red, white, blue, and gold.[22] Although many sprinters avoided accessories which might slow them down, Griffith Joyner kept her hair long and wore jewelry while competing.[46] She designed many of her outfits herself and preferred looks which were not conventional.[46]

Allegations of performance-enhancing drug use

Florence Griffith Joyner is rarely mentioned without an invisible asterisk next to her name when the women's 100 and 200 meters comes around in Olympic year. Current runners bemoan the unreachable bench mark she set. Double Olympic 200 meter gold medalist Veronica Campbell Brown got nowhere near it, saying it was beyond her reach. Former 200 meter Olympic champion Gwen Torrence said that she "did not acknowledge those records. ... To me they don't exist and women sprinters are suffering as a result of what she did to the times in the 100 and 200."

—James Montague, CNN, August 2012.[47]

After her record-shattering performances at the 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials, she became an object of suspicion when she arrived at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul.[47] Athletes, including Joaquim Cruz and Ben Johnson, expressed disbelief over Griffith Joyner's dramatic improvement over a short period of time.[48] Before the 1988 track and field season, her best time in the 100-meter sprint was 10.96 seconds (set in 1987). In 1988, she improved that by 0.47 seconds.[49]

Her best before 1988 at 200 meters was 21.96 seconds (also set in 1987). In 1988, she improved that by 0.62 seconds to 21.34 seconds, another time that has not been approached. Griffith Joyner attributed the change in her physique to new health programs.[50] Al Joyner replaced Bob Kersee as her coach, and he changed her training program to include more lower body strength training exercises such as squats and lunges.[51]

In a 1989 story for which he was purportedly paid $25,000,[52] Darrell Robinson, a former teammate of Griffith Joyner, claimed that he sold her 10 mL of growth hormone for $2,000 in 1988. He said Joyner told him: "if you want to make $1 million, you've got to invest some thousands."[50] Robinson claimed to have received steroids from coach Bob Kersee and said he saw Carl Lewis inject himself with drugs he believed to be testosterone.[52]

Robinson never provided any evidence for his allegations and was shunned by the athletics community, leading to the premature end of his career.[53] After the 1988 Olympics, Griffith Joyner retired from competitive track and field, just before the introduction of mandatory random drug testing in 1989.[47][54] She was repeatedly tested during competition and passed every test.[55][56]

After her death in 1998, Prince Alexandre de Merode, chairman of the International Olympic Committee's medical commission, claimed that Griffith Joyner was singled out for extra, rigorous drug testing during the 1988 Olympic Games following rumors of steroid use. De Merode told The New York Times that Manfred Donike, who was at that time considered to be the foremost expert on drugs and sports, failed to discover any banned substances during that testing.[57] The World Anti-Doping Agency was created in the 1990s, removing control of drug testing from the IOC and De Merode. De Merode later stated: "We performed all possible and imaginable analyses on her. We never found anything. There should not be the slightest suspicion."[47]

Personal life

Griffith's nickname among family was "Dee Dee".[5][7] She was briefly engaged to hurdler Greg Foster.[5] In 1987, Griffith married 1984 Olympic triple jump champion Al Joyner, whom Griffith had first met at the 1980 Olympic Trials.[8][58] Through her marriage to Joyner she was sister-in-law to track and field athlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee.[58] Griffith and Joyner had one daughter together, Mary Ruth Joyner, born November 15, 1990.[10][27]

Death

On September 21, 1998, Griffith Joyner died in her sleep at home in the Canyon Crest neighborhood of Mission Viejo, California, at the age of 38. The unexpected death was investigated by the Orange County Sheriff-Coroner's office, which announced on September 22 that the cause of death was suffocation during a severe epileptic seizure.[54]

Griffith Joyner was found to have had a cavernous hemangioma, a congenital vascular brain abnormality that made her subject to seizures.[59] According to a family attorney, she had suffered a tonic-clonic seizure in 1990 and had been treated for seizures in 1993 and 1994. According to the Sheriff-Coroner's office, the only drugs in her system when she died were small amounts of two common over-the-counter drugs, acetaminophen and the antihistamine Benadryl.[60]

Legacy

USA Track & Field inducted her into its Hall of Fame in 1995.[61] In 2000, the 102nd Street School in Los Angeles was renamed Florence Griffith Joyner Elementary School. Griffith Joyner had attended the school as a child.[6] The city of Mission Viejo dedicated a park at the entrance to her neighborhood in her honor.[62][63] Griffith Joyner was also an artist and painter. Her work has been on display as part the Art of The Olympians (AOTO). She is one of two posthumous members of AOTO, the other being the founder and Olympian, Al Oerter.[64] In Time's 2020 list of the most influential women of the past century, she was named woman of the year for 1988.[65]

Statistics

To date, her 1988 200 m world and Olympic record (21.34) as well as her 100 m world record (10.49) still stand, making them the longest-reigning sprinting records in track and field history. Her 100 m Olympic record (10.62) was improved in 2021 at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo by Elaine Thompson-Herah (10.61).

Olympic Games and trials results
Race Venue Date Round Time Wind WR
100 m Indianapolis July 16, 1988 Qualifying heat 10.60w +3.2
100 m Indianapolis July 16, 1988 Quarter-final 10.49 0.0[note 1] WR
100 m Indianapolis July 17, 1988 Semi-final 10.70 +1.6
100 m Indianapolis July 17, 1988 Final 10.61 +1.2
100 m Seoul September 24, 1988 Qualifying heat 10.88 +1.0
100 m Seoul September 24, 1988 Quarter-final 10.62 +1.0
100 m Seoul September 25, 1988 Semi-final 10.70w +2.6
100 m Seoul September 25, 1988 Final 10.54w +3.0
200 m Indianapolis July 22, 1988 Qualifying heat 21.96 +0.6
200 m Indianapolis July 22, 1988 Quarter-final 21.77 −0.1
200 m Indianapolis July 23, 1988 Semi-final 21.90w +2.4
200 m Indianapolis July 23, 1988 Final 21.85 +1.3
200 m Seoul September 28, 1988 Qualifying heat 22.51  ?
200 m Seoul September 28, 1988 Quarter-final 21.76 +0.7
200 m Seoul September 29, 1988 Semi-final 21.56 +1.7 WR
200 m Seoul September 29, 1988 Final 21.34 +1.3 WR
100 m relay ( 4 × 100 m relay ) Seoul October 1, 1988 Semi-Final (team time 42.12)
100 m relay ( 4 × 100 m relay ) Seoul October 1, 1988 Final (team time 41.98)
400 m relay split ( 4 × 400 m relay ) Seoul October 1, 1988 Final 48.08
(team time 3:15.51)

International competitions
YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventTimeNotes
1983 World Championships Helsinki 4th 200 m 22.46 wind +1.5

Season's bests
Year 100 meters 200 meters 400 meters
198211.1222.39—
198311.0622.2350.94
198410.9922.04—
198511.0022.5050.89
198611.4223.51—
198710.9621.96—
198810.4921.3452.50

See also
  • History of African Americans in Los Angeles

Notes
  1. It is widely believed that the anemometer was faulty for the race in which Griffith Joyner set this record.[67] A 1995 report commissioned by the IAAF estimated the true wind speed was between +5.0 m/s and +7.0 m/s, rather than the 0.0 recorded.[67] If this time, recorded in the quarter-final of the 1988 U.S. Olympic trials, were excluded, the world record (until the 10.54 recorded by Elaine Thompson-Herah on August 21, 2021) would have been 10.61 s, also by Griffith Joyner, recorded the next day at the same venue in the final.[67][68]

    References
    1. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (August 24, 2021). "History of the Council". health.gov. Department of Health and Human Services. Retrieved November 15, 2021.
    2. Nathan Aaseng. African-Jamaican Athletes. Infobase. ISBN 9781438107783. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
    3. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Florence Griffith Joyner". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020. Retrieved October 28, 2020.
    4. Whitaker, Matthew C. (2011). Icons of Black America: Breaking Barriers and Crossing Boundaries, Volume 1. Vol. 1. ABC-CLIO. p. 520. ISBN 978-0-313-37642-9.
    5. "Flashy Florence Griffith Joyner Will Be the One to Watch—and Clock—in the Women's Sprints". People. August 29, 1988. Archived from the original on September 14, 2016. Retrieved July 22, 2016.
    6. Briggs, Johnathon E. (January 15, 2000). "School Renamed for Late Track Star Griffith Joyner". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Archived from the original on August 19, 2016. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
    7. Childs, Joy (August 10, 2012). "The mother behind the Olympian reveals the spirit that was Flo Jo". L.A. Watts Times. Archived from the original on July 5, 2016. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
    8. Schwartz, Kris (July 16, 1998). "ESPN Classic - FloJo sets 100 record at 1988 Olympic Trials". ESPN. Archived from the original on May 21, 2014. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
    9. "California State Meet Results – 1915 to present". prepcaltrack.com. Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved December 25, 2012.
    10. Schwartz, Kris. "FloJo Made Speed Fashionable". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on June 6, 2011. Retrieved June 24, 2011.
    11. "Griffith-Joyner Leaves Kersee's Club; Times". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Archived from the original on August 20, 2016. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
    12. Bennett, Bill. "Fond Memories of Griffith Joyner". UCLA Newsroom. Archived from the original on September 17, 2016. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
    13. "Alice Brown". Pasadena Sports Hall of Fame, Inc. Archived from the original on June 14, 2015. Retrieved June 24, 2017.
    14. "Brown, Howard Reach Semifinals in Sprint Events". Los Angeles Times. August 30, 1987. ISSN 0458-3035. Archived from the original on March 5, 2017. Retrieved June 24, 2017.
    15. Hymans, R. (2008) The History of the United States Olympic Trials – Track & Field Archived March 27, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. USA Track & Field. usatf.org
    16. "IAAF: 200 Metres Result | 1st IAAF World Championships in Athletics | iaaf.org". iaaf.org. Archived from the original on August 10, 2016. Retrieved August 6, 2016.
    17. Moore, Kenny (July 2, 1984). "Trials And Jubilation". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on August 30, 2017. Retrieved August 30, 2017.
    18. Shah, Diane K. (February 23, 1983). "The Grueling Road of Evelyn Ashford". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on August 30, 2017. Retrieved August 30, 2017.
    19. Longman, Jere (September 22, 1998). "Florence Griffith Joyner, 38, Champion Sprinter, Is Dead". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on August 30, 2017. Retrieved August 30, 2017.
    20. "IAAF Grand Prix, Combined Events Challenge and Golden Events". www.gbrathletics.com. Archived from the original on August 6, 2012. Retrieved May 25, 2017.
    21. Florence, Mal (June 11, 1985). "Track / Mal Florence: Pursley's Mishap Points Out How Dangerous Pole Vaulting Is". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Archived from the original on December 12, 2015. Retrieved August 30, 2017.
    22. Rowbottom, Mike (September 21, 1998). "Athletics: Flo-Jo's flamboyant life and times". The Independent. Archived from the original on September 16, 2016. Retrieved September 2, 2016.
    23. Burnton, Simon (April 11, 2012). "50 stunning Olympic moments No22: Florence Griffith Joyner, Seoul 1988". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on August 30, 2017. Retrieved June 24, 2017.
    24. Ortega, John (February 5, 1988). "Griffith-Joyner Ranked 2nd in World for 200 Meters". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Archived from the original on August 29, 2016. Retrieved August 21, 2016.
    25. HARVEY, RANDY (July 29, 1988). "Griffith-Joyner Leaves Kersee's Club; She'll Be Coached Solely by Husband". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Archived from the original on August 20, 2016. Retrieved July 23, 2016.
    26. "Canada's Johnson rips season's fastest 100". NewspaperArchive.com. European Stars And Stripes. August 18, 1987. p. 25. Retrieved January 31, 2019.
    27. Penner, Mike (September 22, 1998). "From the Archives: Track Olympian Florence Griffith Joyner Dies at 38". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on August 17, 2016. Retrieved July 18, 2016.
    28. Florence, Mal (June 26, 1988). "Kingdom, 13.17 Into Wind, Routs Foster: Joyner-Kersee Jumps 24-3, Griffith Joyner Runs 10.89 in San Diego". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Archived from the original on May 13, 2016. Retrieved August 4, 2016.
    29. "All-time women's best 100m". Track and Field all-time Performances Homepage. Archived from the original on August 10, 2016. Retrieved July 27, 2016.
    30. Hersh, Phil (July 18, 1988). "Griffith-joyner Nails 100-meter Dash Final". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on September 14, 2016. Retrieved September 2, 2016.
    31. Hymans, Richard (2008). "The History of the United States Olympic Trials -- Track and Field" (PDF). USATF. p. 30. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 20, 2012. Retrieved August 22, 2016.
    32. Linthorne, Nick (March 2003). "Wind Assistance". Brunel University. Archived from the original on July 18, 2009. Retrieved August 25, 2008.
    33. Linthorne, N. (1995) The 100m World Record by Florence Griffith Joyner at the 1988 U.S Olympic Trials. Report for the International Amateur Athletic Federation Department of Physics, University of Western Australia
    34. "Elaine Thompson-Herah narrowly misses out on breaking 33-year-old 100m record".
    35. Hersh, Phil (August 7, 1988). "Kersee Still Waiting For Reason Griffith Joyner Dropped Him As". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on July 10, 2016. Retrieved August 5, 2016.
    36. Moore, Kenny (April 10, 1989). "The Spoils Of Victory". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on July 19, 2016. Retrieved July 31, 2016.
    37. Florence Griffith Joyner Archived August 22, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. sports-reference.com
    38. Litsky, Frank (October 2, 1988). "The Seoul Olympics: Track and Field; Pride and Frustration for the Americans". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on August 28, 2016. Retrieved August 23, 2016.
    39. "Florence Griffith-Joyner". CNN. July 8, 2008. Archived from the original on August 18, 2016. Retrieved July 31, 2016.
    40. Macnow, Glen (December 16, 1988). "Cash Flo Griffith Joyner Leads The Pack In Cashing In On The Olympics". Philly.com. Archived from the original on August 17, 2016. Retrieved July 31, 2016.
    41. "Sports People: Track and Field; Griffith Joyner Gets Sullivan Award". The New York Times. March 7, 1989. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on August 19, 2016. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
    42. Arkatov, Janice (August 8, 1992). "Flo Jo Hopes the Training Pays Off for Her Role on 'Santa Barbara'". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Archived from the original on October 18, 2015. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
    43. Hart, Marla (August 13, 1992). "Backstage With Phoebe". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on August 30, 2017. Retrieved June 24, 2017.
    44. "Flo Jo may abort comeback". The San Francisco Chronicle. April 21, 1997.
    45. "Atlanta Out for Joyners". The New York Times. June 4, 1996. Archived from the original on June 27, 2017. Retrieved May 11, 2014.
    46. Bock, Hal (July 24, 1988). "Griffith-Joyner Just Getting Out of the Blocks: She Says Weight Training, Faster Starts Pushed Her to World Record in 100". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. Archived from the original on August 13, 2016. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
    47. Montague, James. "Saving Flo Jo: Taking back a legacy". CNN. Archived from the original on August 31, 2019. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
    48. "O doping está no auge" (in Portuguese). Veja Online. August 16, 2000. Archived from the original on February 3, 2009. Retrieved February 19, 2009.
    49. "Tribute: Florence Griffith Joyner Flo-Jo (1959 - 1998)". adriansprints.com. Archived from the original on March 3, 2018. Retrieved July 21, 2021.
    50. "Speed, glamour, doubt will be Flo-Jo's legacy". Express India. Reuters. September 23, 1998.
    51. Friend, Tom. "Dream Chaser". ESPN. Outside the Lines. Archived from the original on January 30, 2016. Retrieved July 21, 2021.
    52. Hersh, Phil. "Ex-Teammate: Flo-Jo, Lewis Used Drugs". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on July 8, 2015. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
    53. Wright, Gerard (September 26, 1998). "Athletics: Downfall of a man quick to accuse". The Independent. Archived from the original on September 12, 2017. Retrieved June 24, 2017.
    54. Anderson, Kristina Rebelo (December 5, 1998). "The Uneasy Death Of Florence Griffith Joyner". salon.com. Archived from the original on July 5, 2012. Retrieved June 20, 2012.
    55. "Suspicion surrounds Flo-Jo's death". BBC News. September 23, 1998. Archived from the original on June 22, 2012. Retrieved May 11, 2014.
    56. "TAC Board Approves Random Drug Testing". Los Angeles Times. March 13, 1989. Archived from the original on July 8, 2015. Retrieved May 11, 2014.
    57. "Plus: Track and Field; Official Defends Griffith Joyner". The New York Times. Associated Press. September 24, 1998. Archived from the original on June 27, 2017. Retrieved May 11, 2014.
    58. Harvey, Randy (September 14, 1988). "Olympics '88: A Preview: The First Family: Joyner and Kersee Got a Jump in Their Personal Relationship". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Archived from the original on August 20, 2016. Retrieved July 18, 2016.
    59. "Seizure was brought on by a congenital defect in Griffith Joyner's brain". BBC. October 23, 1998. Archived from the original on January 3, 2009. Retrieved January 4, 2010.
    60. Jeff Gottlieb (October 23, 1998). "Seizure Led to FloJo's Death". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on January 14, 2017. Retrieved December 26, 2016. The Orange County Sheriff-Coroner's office found that the only drugs in her system when she died were small amounts of the over-the-counter painkiller acetominophen and the antihistamine Benadryl, which is sometimes used as a mild sedative.
    61. "USATF - Hall of Fame". www.usatf.org. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
    62. Florence Joyner Olympiad Park Archived September 11, 2018, at the Wayback Machine. Google.com. Retrieved on June 30, 2014.
    63. "(22) Florence Joyner Olympiad Park - City of Mission Viejo". Archived from the original on December 3, 2014.
    64. "Art of the Olympians | Florence Griffith-Joyner". artoftheolympians.org. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
    65. "1988: Florence Griffith Joyner". Time. March 5, 2020.
    66. "Track & Field all-time performances". Track and Field all-time Performances Homepage. Archived from the original on September 1, 2013. Retrieved May 11, 2014.
    67. Linthorne, Nicholas P. (June 1995). "The 100-m World Record by Florence Griffith-Joyner at the 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials" (PDF). Brunel University. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 16, 2012. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
    68. "Women's outdoor 100m". All-time top lists. IAAF. September 17, 2011. Archived from the original on April 7, 2012. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
    Wikimedia Commons has media related to Florence Griffith Joyner.
    This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.