Flo-JO is Considered to be one of the fastest women of all time. Started off chasing jackrabbits on her lawn she went on to set a record that is still standing in 100m and 200m races. Allegations from co-athletes followed the results suggesting the use of performance-enhancement drugs. Such was her feat and sprinting prowess. Let me also remind you that this was the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
Disappointed that she could not win the gold medal, Flo-jo took semi-retirement from the sport. Running only part time, not competing in any national competitions. She got married to another Athletics champion Al Joyner. It was only in 1987 that she devoted herself back to running, with a breakthrough weight training program and alterations in start technique. She trained with her husband thrice and Coach bob kersee twice a week.
She qualified the 100m time trial by a time of 10.49 seconds, setting a new world record. This was U.S running qualifiers. She recorded 3 of the fastest times for a woman in quarters-semis-finals doing a 10.49-10.70-10.61 sec respectively. Same Olympic time trials and she would set the 200m world record at 21.77 sec. She was known as Flo-jo by this time becoming an immense favourite to win the running events in 1988 Olympics.
She won the 100m by a time of 10.54 beating the person who finished second by 0.30 sec. She won the 200m setting the world record in semi-final first at 21.56 sec and then destroying her own record in the final by finishing at a time of 21.34sec. A whooping 0.22sec reduction in time. These records still stand while flo-jo retired as early as 1989 because of random-drug testing announcements. She was tested meticulously for every possible doping scenario producing negative results.
The amount of allegations due to her stunning performances in the U.S trials and 1988 seoul Olympics actually amounted terribly to Flo-jo retiring early from athletics. She was inducted in the track and field hall of fame in 1995 while she also tried to comeback in 1996 but that resulted in a leg injury and spoiled her chance of making a comeback. She died due to suffocation from an epileptic seizure in her sleep in 1998. While the allegations were never proven, they cast a shadow over her remarkable achievements and the legacy she left in the sport of athletics.
“After her death in 1998, Prince Alexandre de Merode, the Chairman of the International Olympic Committee’s medical commission, claimed that Joyner was singled out for extra, rigorous drug testing during the 1988 Olympic Games because of rumors of steroid use. De Merode told The New York Times that Manfred Donike, who was at that time considered to be the foremost expert on drugs and sports, failed to discover any banned substances during that testing. De Merode was not without controversy himself, having been accused of covering up drug tests at the 1984 Games, and following record shattering performances by Chinese swimmers in the 1990s, the World Anti-Doping Agency was created, effectively removing control of drug testing from the IOC and De Merode. On Flo-Jo, De Merode later said:
We performed all possible and imaginable analyses on her. We never found anything. There should not be the slightest suspicion.” Courtesy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Griffith_Joyner#Olympic_runner
A performance worthy of all the honors yet being repeatedly subjected to doping allegations, a running masterclass yet to be replicated. Marion jones came close to breaking the 200m record in 1998 clocking 21.62 sec but later accepted that she was doping. This itself provides the Unmatched “Natural” level of Flo-jo’s performance yet to be undone. God bless her as she rests in peace.
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