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Florence Griffith-Joyner
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Florence Griffith-Joyner
Florence Griffith with Ronald Reagan in 1988.
Personal informationFull name:Florence Delorez GriffithNickname(s):Flo-JoNationality:
United StatesDate of birth:December 21, 1959(1959-12-21)Place of birth:Los Angeles, CaliforniaDate of death:September 21, 1998 (aged 38)Place of death:Mission Viejo, CaliforniaMedal recordWomen's athleticsOlympic GamesGold1988 Seoul100 mGold1988 Seoul200 mGold1988 Seoul4x100 m relaySilver1984 Los Angeles200 mSilver1988 Seoul4x400 m relayWorld ChampionshipsGold1987 Rome4x100 m relaySilver1987 Rome200 mFlorence Griffith-Joyner (born Florence Delorez Griffith[1]), also known as Flo-Jo (December 21, 1959 – September 21, 1998) was an American track and field athlete.
Griffith was born in Los Angeles and raised in the Jordan Downs public housing complex. During the late 1980s she became a popular figure in international track and field due to her record-setting performances and flashy personal style. 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 runner Jackie Joyner-Kersee.
Contents
[hide]
[edit] Track career
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, Griffith won the final of the Grand Prix with 11.00 seconds. After these Olympics, Griffith spent less time running and married the 1984 Olympic triple jump champion Al Joyner in 1987.
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 100m World Record of 10.49 in the quarter-finals of the US Olympic Trials. Several sources indicate that this time was very likely wind-assisted; although the wind meter at the event measured 0.0 — indicating no wind — at the time of the race, observers noted evidence of significant wind and wind speeds up to 7 meters/second were noted at other times during the event. Since 1997 the International Athletics Annual of the Association of Track and Field Statisticians has listed this performance as "probably strongly wind assisted, but recognised as a world record". [2] Griffith-Joyner's coach later stated that he believed the 10.49 run had been aided by wind[citation needed]. Outside this race, Griffith-Joyner's fastest time without wind assistance was 10.61 seconds (a time which would still give her the world record if the 10.49 were not counted).
By now 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 0.3 seconds. In the 200m quarter-final race, she set a world record and then broke that record again in the final with a time of 21.34 and won the final by 0.4 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 British 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 in 1989.[3]
Flo Jo at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games.
[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".[4]
The cavernous angioma referred to a brain abnormality discovered during the autopsy that made Joyner subject to seizures. It was a congenital defect.[5] 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. She was 38 years old.
[edit] Cultural references
[edit] Footnotes
[edit] External links
Florence Griffith-Joyner
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Florence Griffith-Joyner
Florence Griffith with Ronald Reagan in 1988.Personal informationFull name:Florence Delorez GriffithNickname(s):Flo-JoNationality:
United StatesDate of birth:December 21, 1959(1959-12-21)Place of birth:Los Angeles, CaliforniaDate of death:September 21, 1998 (aged 38)Place of death:Mission Viejo, CaliforniaMedal recordWomen's athleticsOlympic GamesGold1988 Seoul100 mGold1988 Seoul200 mGold1988 Seoul4x100 m relaySilver1984 Los Angeles200 mSilver1988 Seoul4x400 m relayWorld ChampionshipsGold1987 Rome4x100 m relaySilver1987 Rome200 mFlorence Griffith-Joyner (born Florence Delorez Griffith[1]), also known as Flo-Jo (December 21, 1959 – September 21, 1998) was an American track and field athlete.Griffith was born in Los Angeles and raised in the Jordan Downs public housing complex. During the late 1980s she became a popular figure in international track and field due to her record-setting performances and flashy personal style. 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 runner Jackie Joyner-Kersee.
Contents
[hide]
- <LI class=toclevel-1>1 Track career <LI class=toclevel-1>2 Death <LI class=toclevel-1>3 Cultural references <LI class=toclevel-1>4 Footnotes
- 5 External links
[edit] Track career
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, Griffith won the final of the Grand Prix with 11.00 seconds. After these Olympics, Griffith spent less time running and married the 1984 Olympic triple jump champion Al Joyner in 1987.
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 100m World Record of 10.49 in the quarter-finals of the US Olympic Trials. Several sources indicate that this time was very likely wind-assisted; although the wind meter at the event measured 0.0 — indicating no wind — at the time of the race, observers noted evidence of significant wind and wind speeds up to 7 meters/second were noted at other times during the event. Since 1997 the International Athletics Annual of the Association of Track and Field Statisticians has listed this performance as "probably strongly wind assisted, but recognised as a world record". [2] Griffith-Joyner's coach later stated that he believed the 10.49 run had been aided by wind[citation needed]. Outside this race, Griffith-Joyner's fastest time without wind assistance was 10.61 seconds (a time which would still give her the world record if the 10.49 were not counted).
By now 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 0.3 seconds. In the 200m quarter-final race, she set a world record and then broke that record again in the final with a time of 21.34 and won the final by 0.4 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 British 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 in 1989.[3]
Flo Jo at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games.
[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".[4]
The cavernous angioma referred to a brain abnormality discovered during the autopsy that made Joyner subject to seizures. It was a congenital defect.[5] 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. She was 38 years old.
[edit] Cultural references
- Griffith-Joyner is mentioned in the rap song Baby Got Back by Sir Mix-a-Lot. "You can have them bimbos, I keep my women like FloJo." and also in the rap song Number One Spot by Ludacris "Stay on the track, hit the ground running like FloJo."
- DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince pay homage to Joyner in the rap song Numero Uno "Fast like Flo Jo crazy like Cujo"
- Hi-Tek makes reference to Griffith-Joyner in his collaboration with Talib Kweli, The Blast on the album Train of Thought. "It's Hi-Tek (body), on the track like Flo-Jo, bet you ain't know I had flow though."
- Flo-Jo is mentioned in an episode of family guy. Peter is being stalked by death and attempts to run away. Death responds by saying "I caught Flo Jo, you think I can't catch you?"
- Flo-Jo is mentioned in the rap song Lean Back by Terror Squad, which is a group formed by Fat Joe. "Came out the gate on some Flo-Jo [expletive], Fat [expletive] with the shotty was the logo kid!"
- Del the Funkee Homosapien mentions Griffith Joyner in his debut album I Wish My Brother George Was Here by rapping "might sound odd to the average Joe Schmoe, the new school passed ya ass like Flo Jo"
[edit] Footnotes
- <LI id=cite_note-Florence_Griffith-Joyner_NNDB_Profile-0>^ "Florence Griffith-Joyner NNDB Profile". NNDB. Retrieved on 2008-08-23. <LI id=cite_note-1>^ Linthorne, Nick (March 2003). "Wind Assistance". Brunel University. Retrieved on 2008-08-25. <LI id=cite_note-2>^ Kris Schwartz. "FloJo Made Speed Fashionable". <LI id=cite_note-3>^ Kristina Rebelo Anderson. "The Uneasy Death Of Florence Griffith Joyner". salon.com.
- ^ ""Seizure was brought on by a congenital defect in Griffith-Joyner's brain"". BBC.
[edit] External links
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