Women who changed sport: With speed and style, Florence Griffith Joyner moved athletics from the sports page to the front page
Florence Griffith Joyner reinvented track and field. Both her 100m and 200m world record still stand. Find out more about her legacy.
Athletics
There will never be another athlete quite like Flo-Jo.
Florence Griffith Joyner swept the women's 100m, 200m and 4x100 gold medals at the Olympic Summer Games Seoul 1988, and still holds the world records in both the 100 and 200 - records that have stood for some 30 years.
But beyond the track, Flo-Jo's unique style and willingness to mix fashion and sport made her a cultural icon, a legacy that has carried on through to today. In 2021, tennis great Serena Williams showed just how much of an impact Flo-Jo still has, donning a one-legged catsuit at the Australian Open, which was the sprinter's signature during her record-breaking 1988 season.
"I was inspired by Flo-Jo [and] watching her fashion, just always changing, her outfits were always amazing," Williams told reporters in Melbourne. "This design [comes from] inspiration from Flo-Jo. I was like, 'Oh, my God, this is so brilliant.'"
Flo-Jo's brilliance lasted well beyond her early 1989 retirement from competition as she became a symbol for female strength, trying her hand at fashion and doll design, as well as acting, while also becoming an active spokesperson for a multitude of brands, as well as President Bill Clinton's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.
"Florence transcended our sport," Jackie Joyner-Kersee, her teammate (and later sister-in-law) told PBS last year. "She took track and field off of the sports page and onto the front page. She brought in more people wanting to know more not just about her but also our sport."
Florence Griffith Joyner: World records & Olympic golds
Griffith Joyner was a two-time Olympian who actually qualified for the Games thrice, though the U.S. team boycotted the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. Four years later, at Los Angeles 1984, she captured the silver medal in the 200m, her first of five Olympic medals.
She did not carry that momentum onto the international circuit thereafter, however, actually spending time at a 9-to-5 bank job and re-emerging at the World Championships in 1987, placing - again - second in the 200m.
But 1988 would prove monumental for the then-28-year-old, with Flo-Jo winning the U.S. Olympic Trials with three of the fastest times ever run in the 100m, including her world record that still stands today - a 10.49 in the quarter-finals. She'd clock a 10.61 in the final to solidify her spot for the coming Seoul Games, while also qualifying in what had previously been considered her stronger event, the 200m.
At Seoul 1988, Flo-Jo went from athletics start to household name. She claimed the 200m in world record time, her 21.34 still - along with her 100m time - the fastest ever to this day. She raised her arms aloft as she crossed the line first, breaking into what became an iconic smile as she claimed the gold.
"I did it," Griffith Joyner told NBC after that win. "I was trying to stay relaxed and bring it home... I felt very good. This is the Olympic Games, this is it for the gold."
"Getting down in those starting blocks and hearing all those people cheering for me, that gave me extra energy," she added to American radio outlet, NPR.
Flo-Jo won three golds in total in 1988, teaming up with Evelyn Ashford, Sheila Echols and Alice Brown, in the 4x100m relay beyond her individual wins. The U.S. 4x400m relay team claimed silver.
A big personality and bold fashion choices
"Flo-Jo brought her big personality and bold fashion choices into the sport," Billie Jean King told PBS. "She became known for her stylish manicures and one-of-a-kind running outfits."
"The world watched not only to see her run like the wind, but also to see what she would be wearing while doing it," King added.
After retiring in 1989, Flo-Jo took on a host of projects, including designing the uniforms for the NBA's Indiana Pacers in 1990, as well as a pair of popular fashion lines sold in Japan.
A Flo-Jo doll was created, and she played a photographer for four episodes on the soap opera Santa Barbara.
She was inducted into the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame in 1995, three years prior to her untimely death due to a severe epileptic seizure.