Griffith Joyner Cashes in on Her Olympic Gold

Florence Griffith Joyner is turning Olympic gold into spendable gold.

The Games’ biggest track and field star is cashing in faster than money changes hands in the bank in which she used to work.

Since the radiant FloJo lit up Seoul with glittering performances in the XXIV Olympiad, thousands of requests have poured into the California office of her business adviser, Gordon Baskin.

The offers have come from as far away as the Soviet Union and Japan. They’ve also come from Hollywood for acting roles, from television shows for guest appearances, from magazines for cover photos and lengthy interviews, from publishing companies for publication of her books and poems, from companies for product endorsements, from organizations for speaking engagements, from charities for help in raising money or working with children, from schools for inspirational talks, and from individuals requesting autographed pictures.

“I receive about a couple of hundred pieces of mail a day. I have my family helping me sort it out,” Griffith Joyner said.

Her family includes husband Al Joyner, the 1984 Olympic triple jump gold medalist, and her sister-in-law, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, gold medalist this year in the heptathlon and the women’s long jump.

Griffith Joyner said the mail she most enjoys answering are the requests from youngsters seeking autographed pictures, even though it can become tedious signing her name hundreds of times a day.

“I remember the times when I was younger and wanted an autographed picture, and how much it meant to me when I received one,” said Griffith Joyner, winner of Olympic gold medals in the women’s 100-meter and 200-meter dashes and the 400-meter relay.

“I receive a lot of letters from children, telling me that I’m their hero, their inspiration. It makes me feel good that people look at me that way.”

A year ago, Griffith Joyner was considered a good runner, but not extraordinary. She had won silver medals in the 200 at the 1984 Olympics and the 1987 World Championships, and run on three teams that broke U.S. records in the relay.

But on Nov. 2, 1987, she began a rigorous training program that would culminate in her Olympic gold rush--plus one silver medal--and include sensational world records in the 100 and 200. She reduced the world record in the 100 from 10.76 seconds to 10.49 and the 200 mark from 21.71 to 21.34.

No one ever had lowered those short-distance records by such substantial degrees. Those performances, combined with Griffith Joyner’s unconventional attire, including one-legged running suits and an “athletic negligee,” made her a marketable commodity--and the gold rush was on.

Prior to the U.S. Olympic Trials in July, Bob Kersee, husband of Joyner-Kersee, was her coach and business adviser. Immediately afterward, she switched to Baskin, whose only other track client was Edwin Moses.

The two-time Olympic gold medalist in the men’s 400-meter intermediate hurdles ended that relationships Thursday.

Baskin said he studies all the offers carefully, choosing them to fit Griffith Joyner’s character. The two, along with Al Joyner, have established guidelines for requests.

“They should be with a substantial company,” Baskin said. “They have to have longevity. There won’t be any spot arrangements. After the Olympics, we turned down hundreds of spot arrangements. They have to fit her character, because she doesn’t have two faces. And they have to be something she can endorse with credibility.

“We are not being rushed into anything. We want longevity and sustenance for her. We are not taking them indiscriminately.”

So far, contracts have been signed with Mizuno, a Japanese athletic shoe company; Proxy, a dress shoe company, for whom Griffith Joyner will be shown wearing the product in advertisements in Vogue and Glamor magazines, with the shoe selling in department stores, and LJN Toys, which will produce a FloJo doll next year.

Griffith Joyner was seen in the television show “227”and in a float at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.

She also will be on the Bob Hope Christmas Show and on an upcoming Kenny Rogers special.

She has screen-tested for Norman Lear for a TV series about young people. She has been asked by a major studio to act in a full-length film, in which she would have the part of a female James Bond.

She has been courted by another studio for a TV series, in which she would “act as a live character in a Roger Rabbit-type portrayal and work with animated characters,” Baskin said.

She also has proposals from a major electronics company, from four cosmetic companies, “a large Kelly Girl-type agency in Japan,” two automobile companies, and “a substantial apparel company which wants to license a Florence Griffith Joyner line of clothes -- dresses and women’s suits -- and a second line, called the FloJo line that would focus on athletic workout wear,” Baskin said.

In addition, Griffith Joyner is close to signing a deal for the publication of her 10 children’s books, featuring the character Barry Bam Bam. She also has written a couple of romance novels, in which the publishing company has shown interest.