Olympic Star Sprinted to World Fame

Like a shooting star streaking across the sky, a sprinter from Van Nuys went from being a perennial bridesmaid in major competitions to a triple Olympic gold medalist and international star in 1988.

Florence Griffith Joyner had garnered silver medals in the 200-meter races at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles and the 1987 World Championships in Rome when she headed to Seoul, South Korea, for the 1988 Olympic Games.

Griffith Joyner, a student at Cal State Northridge from 1978-80, proceeded to set two world records in the 200 in Seoul after setting a world record in the 100 in the U.S. Olympic trials earlier in the year.

Flojo, as the media dubbed her, won gold medals in the 100 and 200 and ran the third leg on the victorious 400 relay team in the Seoul Olympics. She also ran the anchor leg on the silver medal-winning 1,600 relay squad that set an American record of 3:15.51 that still stands.

Her best times of 10.49 in the 100 and 21.34 in the 200 are still .25 and .30 seconds quicker than any other woman has ever run.

“I wanted to set the world records here at the Olympic Games,” she said after winning the 200 in Seoul. “That’s what the sport is all about: setting records so the young ones coming up have something to look forward to and break.”

Her popularity increased with her performances in Seoul, but instead of spending the post-Olympic year making an estimated $25,000 per appearance in European meets, she retired to pursue endeavors such as acting, fashion designing, writing children’s books and fulfilling sponsorship commitments.

Flojo, the seventh of 11 children, grew up in South-Central Los Angeles and is currently the co-chair on the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports and is active in numerous charities, including the Florence Griffith Joyner Youth Foundation, which benefits disadvantaged youths.

Griffith Joyner, whose flashy competitive outfits and 2-inch-long fluorescent fingernails were the talk of the 1988 Olympics, is studying to be a cosmetologist.

She and her husband, Al Joyner, the 1984 Olympic gold medalist in the triple jump, and their 6-year-old daughter, Mary Ruth, now live in Mission Viejo.