![]() Through Joyner-Kersee, Griffith-Joyner met her friend's brother Al and the pair married a year before the Seoul Games. The women met at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), a breeding ground for sporting greats including baseball star Jackie Robinson and tennis legends Arthur Ashe and Jimmy Connors.Įven at that time, Griffith-Joyner had a flamboyant look and she shared fashion ideas with Joyner-Kersee and her friends. She didn't think much of those who thought negatively of her." It was endearing to some but not to others. "I don't think Florence cared if you liked her or not. "Florence ran a world record at our trials, then she consistently ran 10.50s and 10.60s. I thought it was a discredit to Florence's ability. "During that time Ben Johnson tested positive, so speculation and accusations ran rapid. "It was very unfortunate," Joyner-Kersee, who won heptathlon and long jump gold in 1988, said of the suggestions. external-link Neither Griffith-Joyner nor Joyner-Kersee, who was also the subject of whispers, ever tested positive for banned substances. To put that into perspective, Carmelita Jeter's 10.64 for the 100m in 2009 and Marion Jones's 21.62 in 1998 for the 200m are currently the second best marks on the all-time list.Īmong those who queried the achievements were Brazil's 800m gold medallist Joaquim Cruz external-link and Griffith-Joyner's compatriot and fellow multiple gold-medal winner Carl Lewis. Her time of 21.34 was an improvement of 0.62 in one year. Some had been puzzled as to how the Los Angeles-born sprinter had managed to knock almost half a second off her pre-1988 best to clock 10.49 seconds and set a new 100m record at that year's US Olympic trials.Ī few weeks later, "Flo-Jo" followed that up with a new 200m world record in the Seoul final. It was a close-knit family, an American sporting dynasty who were, for the most part, celebrated by the country they grew up in.īut it was a family repeatedly bruised by insinuations that Griffith-Joyner had taken banned substances during her career. Bobby asked me what was wrong and we got the first flight out to Los Angeles," Joyner-Kersee recalled.Īl was Griffith-Joyner's husband Al Joyner, the 1984 Olympic triple-jump champion, and Bobby was Bobby Kersee, her coach who became her husband. "Al called me, I fell to the floor and had an asthma attack. I don't think Florence cared if you liked her or not.
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