Florence Griffith-Joyner

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Florence Griffith-Joyner athletics

Florence Griffith-Joyner
Griffith-Joyner with President Ronald Reagan (1988)

Full name Delorez Florence Griffith-Joyner
nation United StatesUnited States United States
birthday December 21, 1959
place of birth los Angeles
size 170 cm
Weight 59 kg
date of death September 21, 1998
Place of death Mission Viejo
Career
discipline sprint
Best performance 10.49 s ( 100 m ), 21.34 s ( 200 m )
End of career 1988
Medal table
Olympic games 3 × gold 2 × silver 0 × bronze
World championships 1 × gold 1 × silver 0 × bronze
Olympic rings Olympic games
silver Los Angeles 1984 200 m
gold Seoul 1988 100 m
gold Seoul 1988 200 m
gold Seoul 1988 4 × 100 m
silver Seoul 1988 4 × 400 m
IAAF logo World championships
gold Rome 1987 4 × 100 m
silver Rome 1987 200 m

Florence Griffith-Joyner (birth name Delorez Florence Griffith , often known in the media as Flo-Jo ; * December 21, 1959 in Los Angeles , † September 21, 1998 in Mission Viejo ) was an American sprinter and Olympic champion . She was three times Olympic champion and once world champion. Her world records over 100 and 200 meters from 1988 have been in place for over 32 years.

Life

Florence Griffith-Joyner grew up with ten siblings in Los Angeles. Her parents divorced when she was four years old. She started playing sports in 1966 and won the Jesse Owens Youth Games in 1973 and 1974. After graduating from high school in 1978, she began studying psychology at California State University in Northridge . There she won the national championships with the athletics team under coach Bob Kersee , but dropped out of studies a year later for financial reasons and began working as a bank clerk. Kersee, who later also counted the heptathlete and long jumper Jackie Joyner-Kersee among his protégés, meanwhile switched to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) as an assistant trainer and helped Griffith-Joyner receive a scholarship there in 1980. In 1983 she graduated from UCLA with a degree in psychology.

In 1980, she narrowly missed a place in the US Olympic team, but this had no consequences because of the US boycott of the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow . Her first international appearance was at the World Athletics Championships in Helsinki in 1983 . In 1984 she took part in the Summer Games in Los Angeles and won silver in the 200 meters . In October 1987 she married the Olympic triple jump champion Al Joyner . Before that, she had been friends with hurdler Greg Foster for years, who later became her agent.

At sports festivals in Europe, the young athlete initially caused a stir with her striking appearance than with her outstanding sprinting qualities. Griffith-Joyner was considered the "first diva of the tartan track", which was justified by trademarks such as long, brightly painted fingernails or bright, skin-tight running suits. “I like to be liked and I want to differentiate myself from others,” says Griffith-Joyner.

After the 1985 season, Griffith-Joyner returned to work at a bank, while she also hired herself as a hairstylist. In April 1987 she started again seriously with athletics and four months later won silver in the 200 meters and gold with the 4 x 100 meter relay at the World Championships in Rome.

In the trials for the 1988 Olympic Games , Griffith-Joyner improved Evelyn Ashford's 100-meter world record to 10.49 s on July 16, 1988 in Indianapolis ; in the previous year her personal best was 10.96 s. In retrospect, it was doubted whether the wind measurement of 0.0 m / s was correct, as 4 m / s tail wind was measured at the same time on the long jump facility next to it and 5 m / s in the second semifinals immediately following.

After the trials, Griffith-Joyner surprisingly separated from her trainer Bob Kersee and began to train under husband Al Joyner . At the subsequent Olympic Games in Seoul , she won gold over 100 and 200 meters as well as gold with the 4-by-100-meter relay and silver with the 4-by-400-meter relay . Griffith-Joyner won the 200 meters in a world record time of 21.34 s (personal best in 1987: 21.96 s), which means that only 37 out of 71 men would have been ahead of her. She is still the world record holder in this discipline as well as over the 100 meter distance. The muscular athlete dominated the competition to such an extent that doping rumors soon arose despite negative tests . In particular, her sudden increase in performance within a year and her resignation from top-class sport that followed soon fueled these rumors. This coincided with the announcement of tightened doping controls in the post-Olympic year. In 1989 she turned her back on competitive sports and gave birth to a daughter on November 15, 1990. In 1995 she was inducted into the US Track and Field Hall of Fame .

She announced a comeback several times. She wanted to start at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, but announced the end of her athletic career two months before the start of the Games due to problems with the right Achilles tendon. In the same year she suffered a slight stroke and had to seek medical treatment.

Florence Griffith-Joyner suffocated in her sleep on September 21, 1998 at the age of 38. A severe epileptic attack is said to have been the reason for this; stroke or heart failure had emerged as other rumors. The coroner found a cavernous hemangioma in her left fronto-orbital brain area, which could have triggered a seizure.

Speculation about doping

After her big leap in performance in 1988, doping rumors about Griffith-Joyner arose while she was still active. Outward characteristics such as significant muscle growth in a short time or a deeper voice than before were cited. In addition, there were rumors of concealed positive doping results and her resignation at the zenith of her performance five months after the Olympic Games, which took place a few months before the introduction of non-competitive doping controls. Brazilian middle-distance runner Joaquim Cruz indicated in a TV interview during the 1988 Olympic Games that Griffith-Joyner and Jackie Joyner-Kersee were using illicit means to grow muscles. Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis responded to a public question after a speech at the University of Pennsylvania in December 1988 that he knew from some "very reliable sources" that Griffith-Joyner was taking steroids. He also stated that the situation in the former coach Griffith-Joyners was justified. Lewis is said not to have known that his remarks were recorded for the student newspaper The Daily Pennsylvanian and apologized after publication, stating that he had no personal knowledge of any doping use by Griffith-Joyner and her trainer. In his autobiography Inside Track , Lewis later referred to muscular and vocal changes by Griffith-Joyners and stated that "in the world of athletics [...] the opinion that Florence was doped [had]".

Sprinter and ex-junior world record holder Darrell Robinson accused several American athletes and coaches of doping abuse in an interview with the news magazine Stern in September 1989 . Among them was Griffith-Joyner's trainer Bob Kersee , with whom Robinson himself trained since 1987. Robinson also said he sold a vial of growth hormone (HGH) to Griffith-Joyner in March 1988 . Griffith-Joyner denied the allegations and called Robinson on the television program Today a "compulsive, crazy, lying lunatic" ( "Darrell, you are a compulsive, crazy, lying lunatic" ). Robinson later described that because of his statements he was practically excluded from the European athletics events and his career thus ended, but remained with his allegations.

Griffith-Joyner's demise sparked a discussion about the consequences of the abuse of anabolic steroids or other performance-enhancing agents. Alexandre de Mérode - chairman of the IOC's medical commission and in the past himself criticized for not pursuing positive tests at the 1984 Olympic Games - spoke out against speculation about doping a few days after her death and pointed out that Griffith-Joyner was being tested was never able to detect prohibited substances. Her former training partner Lorna Boothe also stated in the course of her death that in 1987 she learned from a nurse working in a California hospital that Griffith-Joyner had been regularly treated with anabolic steroids and testosterone .

Awards

Web links

Commons : Florence Griffith Joyner  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b FloJo Made Speed ​​Fashionable. In: espn.com. Accessed March 28, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Florence Griffith Joyner: Fastest Woman on Earth. In: legacy.com. Accessed March 28, 2019 .
  3. ^ Florence Griffith Joyner, 38, Champion Sprinter, Is Dead. In: nytimes.com. September 22, 1998, accessed March 28, 2019 .
  4. ↑ a b c Florence Griffith-Joyner. In: International Sports Archive. No. 46, November 2, 1998, supplemented by news from MA-Journal up to week 32/2000 (accessed via Munzinger Online )
  5. ↑ Flo-Jo dies at 38 . In: BBC News . September 21, 1998
  6. ↑ a b A touch of Hollywood . In: Der Spiegel . No. 40 , 1998, pp. 168-169 ( online ).
  7. ↑ a b c Hans-Joachim Waldbröl: Only doubts survive the quick end of the fastest woman. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . September 23, 1998, p. 40
  8. ↑ 50 stunning Olympic moments No22: Florence Griffith Joyner, Seoul 1988. In: theguardian.com. April 11, 2012, accessed March 28, 2019 .
  9. ↑ cf. Maths and Sports: How Fast Can Usain Bolt Run? - Professor John D. Barrow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KF432zVWDQ&t=2640 at 44:00
  10. ↑ Kersee still waiting for reason Griffith Joyner dropped him as. In: chicagotribune.com. August 7, 1988, accessed March 28, 2019 .
  11. ↑ cf. Speed ​​limit exceeded. In: Volker Kluge : 100 Olympic highlights. Snapshots Athens 1896 - Atlanta 1996. Sportverlag, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-328-00678-8 , pp. 132-133
  12. ^ Athelia Knight: Coroner: Seizure, Suffocation Killed Griffith Joyner. In: The Washington Post . October 23, 1998, p. D01
  13. ↑ Joachim Kaffer: Griffith-Joyner died. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . September 22, 1998, p. 36
  14. ↑ Anderson, Kristina Rebelo. "The Uneasy Death Of Florence Griffith Joyner". salon.com.
  15. ↑ Shimmering sprint star. In: deutschlandfunkkultur.de. July 16, 2013, accessed March 28, 2019 .
  16. ↑ Griffith-Joyner's world record 25 years ago. In: Stimme.de. July 16, 2013, accessed March 28, 2019 .
  17. ↑ The drama of the dubious diva. In: derstandard.at. September 24, 2013, accessed March 28, 2019 .
  18. ^ Drugs: The curse of Flo-Jo. In: thehindu.com. September 9, 2000, accessed March 28, 2019 .
  19. ↑ Griffith-Joyner's legend grows. In: chicagotribune.com. September 30, 1988, accessed on March 27, 2019 (English): "These people, they must be doing something that isn't normal to gain all these muscles"
  20. ↑ a b The spoil of victory. In: si.com. April 10, 1989, accessed March 27, 2019 .
  21. ^ A b Lewis backtracks on having linked Flo-Jo, Drugs. In: deseretnews.com. December 11, 1988, accessed March 27, 2019 .
  22. ^ Athletics: Flo-Jo and the shadow of doubt. In: independent.co.uk. September 27, 1998, accessed March 27, 2019 .
  23. ↑ "Flo-Jo" - between grief, fascination and suspicion. In: welt.de. September 23, 1998, accessed March 27, 2019 .
  24. ↑ a b scorecard. In: si.com. October 2, 1989, accessed March 28, 2019 .
  25. ↑ Ex-teammate: Flo-jo, Lewis Used Drugs. In: chicagotribune.com. September 21, 1989, accessed March 27, 2019 .
  26. ^ Flo-Jo: a story of the Olympics, speed and dying to succeed. In: euronews.com. August 10, 2016, accessed on March 27, 2019 .
  27. ↑ Sprinter's Drug Allegations Draw Denials. In: nytimes.com. September 22, 1989, accessed March 27, 2019 .
  28. ↑ FloJo doesn't run anymore. In: jungle.world. September 30, 1998. Retrieved March 27, 2019 .
  29. ^ Athletics: Downfall of a man quick to accuse. In: independent.co.uk. September 27, 1998, accessed March 29, 2019 .
  30. ↑ Running From Himself: Former Track Star Darrell Robinson Almost Reached a Final Finish by Attempting Suicide. In: latimes.com. April 17, 1996, accessed March 29, 2019 .
  31. ↑ Doctoral thesis required. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . September 25, 1998, p. 39
  32. ↑ Olympic la-la land. In: latimes.com. August 4, 2009, accessed March 27, 2019 .
  33. ↑ Athletics: De Merode defends Griffith Joyner. In: independent.co.uk. September 24, 1998, accessed March 27, 2019 .
  34. ↑ Griffith-Joyner's death leaves question marks. In: archiv.rhein-zeitung.de. September 22, 1998. Retrieved March 27, 2019 .

annotation

  1. ↑ Griffith-Joyner separated from her long-time coach Bob Kersee during the 1988 season. Lewis' manager later insisted that Lewis was not referring to Kersee.
personal data
SURNAME Griffith-Joyner, Florence
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Griffith, Delorez Florence; Flo-Jo (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American sprinter and Olympic champion
DATE OF BIRTH December 21, 1959
PLACE OF BIRTH los Angeles
DATE OF DEATH September 21, 1998
Place of death Mission Viejo