Florence Griffith-Joyner:
Florence Griffith-Joyner (born Florence Delorez Griffith), 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.
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". 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.
