But she couldn’t come to the Tokyo Games because of a marijuana suspension soon after winning the trials. Richardson wore her hair in a vibrant orange - to represent flames - at the trials. American sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson has a similar burst from the blocks as Flo-Jo, and the same sense of fashion, too. Today’s sprinters are quickly getting up to speed on her legacy and even emulating that unique style - right down to her long nails. The outfits they give us are so standard.” In an interview not long after breaking the 100 mark, she said: “Conventional is not for me. But they don’t know the impact she really had.” “The (sprinters of today) know her by name. “Once you met her, you fell in love with her,” said Al Joyner, who has a daughter, Mary, with Flo-Jo. In 1998, at the age of 38, Griffith Joyner died in her sleep as the result of an epileptic seizure. Griffith Joyner captured five Olympic medals, including three gold. What he witnessed, though, was a performance many believed would never be duplicated. “I got caught up in the moment,” Al Joyner said. team and wouldn’t defend his Olympic title. She stunned the crowd and shocked the announcers when her time came up: 10.49.Īl leaped high into the air after seeing his wife make history - a jump for joy he wasn’t able to replicate in the triple jump. “She was always classy.”Īnd so, Al Joyner prefers to remember the good times - and the memorable stories, such as when he was preparing for the triple jump at the 1988 Olympic trials and paused for a brief moment as his wife lined up for the 100 meters.įlo-Jo, with her iconic nails painted bright and donning a flashy purple one-legged bodysuit, was a blur of neon blazing down the track on that July 16 day. “I try to rise above it and do what (Florence) would do - she always tried to rise above it,” said Joyner, whose sister is heptathlon great Jackie Joyner-Kersee. The only individual women’s running records that have been on the books longer are the 400 meters (Marita Koch of East Germany, 1985) and the 800 (Jarmila Kratochvilova of Czechoslovakia, 1983) - both during a time when Eastern Bloc countries were committed to widespread doping. Those assertions and accusations always rankle Al Joyner, who tries to stay above the fray with that part of the legacy. “Sooo - what you are NOT going to do is make up □ about her, disrespecting her family and her legacy.” “Her funeral was one of the saddest, most crushing days I’ve ever experienced,” Peete posted on her Twitter account. Family friend and actor Holly Robinson Peete tried to shut it down. and Jamaica putting Flo-Jo’s old marks back in the limelight this year, the predictable cycle of allegations resurfaced. While Flo-Jo’s record has stood, the men’s record has been lowered about a dozen times since 1988 to where it stands today - 9.58 by Usain Bolt in 2009.Īnd, of course, there is the specter of doping during that era in track. The 100 record came on a breezy day in Indianapolis, but officials deemed it a legal wind. 14 seconds of either mark in three decades-plus often leads to not-so-subtle commentary on social media and elsewhere. The times were mind-boggling when she set them, and the fact nobody has come within. Of course, there have been those who question the legitimacy of the records. “That was always her dream.”įlorence Griffith Joyner of the USA celebrates her 100-meter win in the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea. I want them to make bigger footsteps than me,’” Al Joyner said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. “I remember she once told me, ‘I never want anybody to be like me. The current wave of speedsters - many of whom weren’t even born when Flo-Jo commanded the stage - keep creeping closer to the late sprinter’s hallowed world-record marks in the 100 (10.49 seconds) and the 200 (21.34), but haven’t broken them yet.Īl Joyner, Flo-Jo’s husband, has said he wouldn’t be surprised if the records soon fall - if not in Tokyo (which didn’t happen), then perhaps by the next time everyone gathers for the next Olympics, in Paris in 2024.Īll of which, Joyner firmly believes, wouldn’t bother Flo-Jo in the least. She wore the flashy outfits, including a neon, one-legged spandex bodysuit.Ībove all, she had the iconic nickname “Flo-Jo,” which just sounded fast.įor 33 years, sprinters have been chasing the records cemented next to the name “Florence Griffith Joyner.”
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