Post by Journey2herpast on Oct 22, 2005 22:49:58 GMT -5
FLORENCE Griffith-Joyner, one of the most charismatic female athletes of the past 20 years died of a heart seizure, aged 38.
Flo-Jo at the Seoul Olympics in 1988
Her death, which was announced by Pete Cava, spokesman for the United States track and field team, is likely to re-ignite claims that she took performance-enhancing drugs - something she denied vigorously.
At her peak, "Flo-Jo" was as famous for her flamboyant outfits, flowing hair and long fingernails as she was for her astonishing performance on the running track. The winner of four medals at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, including golds in the 100 metres, 200 metres and 4x400 relay, the American sprinter often chose to design her own running kit.
Such was her concern for her appearance that she often would apply nail polish between heats and cynics said that she sprinted to the television interview area as quickly as she did to the finishing tape. But her success and glamour proved lucrative and in the four years following the Seoul Olympics she is believed to have made £2 million, mainly through advertising contracts.
It was the culmination of a career which started when she was seven and out-running boys in races for underprivileged children organised by the Sugar Ray Robinson foundation in Watts, a Los Angeles ghetto. The allegations that Griffith-Joyner had been taking banned substances surfaced in 1989 when Darrell Robinson, an American sprinter, claimed that she had bought growth hormone from him several months before the Seoul Olympics. Griffith-Joyner angrily denied the claims.
She retired suddenly in 1989, saying she wished to devote more time to other interests. But her departure also came when the controversy over doping was at its height. Suspicions persisted even though she had never tested positive throughout her career.
In October 1987 she married Al Joyner, the 1984 Olympic triple jump-champion. They had a daughter, Mary Ruth, in 1989.