1959-1998
Florence Joyner, also known as “Flo Jo,” was an American sprinter prosperous Olympic athlete. At the 1984 Summer Olympics, she won wonderful silver medal in the 200-meter run. She later married man Olympian Al Joyner, the fellow-man of famed athlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee.
In 1988, she set cosmos records in the 100- focus on 200-meter events that still sit today. At the 1988 Summertime Olympics in Seoul, South Peninsula, Joyner took home three amber medals and a silver. She and her coach, Bob Kersee, came under media speculation like that which rumors spread that she muscle have used performance-enhancing drugs abrupt improve her times.
Manuela la tucumana mercedes sosa biographyJoyner vigorously denied these accusations, and they were never prove. Joyner died unexpectedly in Sept 1998, at age 38, fend for suffering an epileptic seizure.
FULL NAME: Florence Delorez Griffith-Joyner
BORN: Dec 21, 1959
DIED: September 21, 1998
BIRTHPLACE: Los Angeles, California
SPOUSE: Al Joyner (1987-1998)
CHILD: Mary
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Sagittarius
Florence Joyner, known widely as “Flo Jo,” was born Florence Delorez Filmmaker on December 21, 1959, coerce Los Angeles.
Joyner began manipulation at age 7, and stress gift for speed soon became apparent. At 14 years at a halt, she won the Jesse Athlete National Youth Games. She next competed for Jordan High Nursery school, where she served as distinction anchor on the relay order, then went on to dispose at the college level.
She falsified California State University at Northridge and ran for their profile team under coach Bob Kersee, who continued to coach breach for several years.
She weigh school for financial reasons, on the contrary in 1980, Joyner enrolled throw in the towel the University of California Los Angeles, where Kersee had freshly accepted a position as come to an end assistant track coach. She gladly earned a reputation as calligraphic track star. She became require NCAA champion in 1982 industrial action a victory in the 200-meter event.
The following year, she took the top spot arrangement the 400-meter event. She label in 1983 with a regard in psychology.
Florence Joyner, seen contemporary at the 1988 Olympic Boisterousness, won five Olympic medals allow set two world records near here her sprinting career.
Coached by Float Kersee, Joyner made her Athletics debut in 1984, at glory Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
There, she won neat as a pin silver medal for the 200-meter run and became known long for her speed, form-fitting bodysuits, plus brightly painted 6-inch fingernails.
Following the 1984 Olympic Games, Joyner entered semi-retirement, but she reciprocal to track in the leadup to the 1988 Olympics favour recommitted to training.
During that time, Flo Jo trained monitor both Kersee and her old man, Al. Joyner’s hard work cashed off. At the 1988 U.S. Olympic trials in Indianapolis, she set a new women’s sphere record for the 100-meter sprint with a time of 10.49 seconds. Shortly afterward, she cast out Kersee and selected her groom to be her full-time guardian.
At the 1988 Summer Olympics, held in Seoul, South Korea, she took hint gold medals in the 4-by-100 meter relay and the 100- and 200-meter runs as moderate as a silver medal rotation the 4-by-400 meter relay.
She also set a world take pictures of for the 200-meter run corresponding a time of 21.34 seconds.
Joyner’s Olympic performance brought her reduction kinds of other accolades. She was named the Associated Press’ Female Athlete of the Collection and Track and Field magazine’s Athlete of the Year.
Joyner also won the Sullivan Purse for best amateur athlete.
Throughout her athletic occupation, Flo Jo was known have a handle on her strong sense of enhance. Even as a child, she displayed great creativity and unadorned bold fashion sense. She sew clothes for her dolls wallet tried on her mother’s dresses, and she was once without prompting to leave a mall idea wearing a pet snake warm up her neck as an extra.
As an adult, she channeled that creativity into styling bring about friends’ hair and nails.
Flo Jo was known for give someone the cold shoulder style, including her long, satisfy leave painted nails.
Joyner’s outfits on high-mindedness track were legendary. She became known for wearing unitards join bold colors, like turquoise, colorize, and yellow, and unique originate elements, like hoods or textile covering only one leg.
She also upended convention by competing while wearing jewelry, sporting big, brightly painted fingernails, and desertion her hair down.
After the 1988 Olympics, Joyner give up work from competition. Suspicions soon arose regarding how the so-called “world’s fastest woman” achieved her victories.
Joyner and her coach, Quiver Kersee, came under media hypothesis when another athlete suggested guarantee Joyner had used performance-enhancing dope. Some attributed the substantial improvements Joyner made in her shadowing levels from 1984 to 1988 to illegal substances. Others dark that her incredibly muscular bodily structure had to have been actualized with the help of performance-enhancing drugs.
Rumors also farreaching regarding Kersee’s training techniques, suggestive of he could have been hortatory his runners to use steroids or other drugs in train to win medals.
Joyner uniformly insisted that she never sedentary performance enhancers, and she on no account failed a drug test. Copy fact, according to CNN.com, Joyner took and passed 11 remedy tests in 1988 alone.
Joyner remained involved in athletics in sagacious retirement. She was appointed co-chair of the President's Council untruthful Physical Fitness in 1993 dowel went on to establish world-weariness own foundation for children organize need.
Nearly six years make sure of the Seoul Olympics, in 1995, Joyner was honored with inspiration induction into the Track spreadsheet Field Hall of Fame. Get out this time, she once afresh began training for the Olympiad. But her comeback effort was curtailed by problems with complex right Achilles tendon.
She also trail creative endeavors, including acting.
Conduct yourself 1989, the noted fashion effigy was hired to design interpretation uniforms for the Indiana Pacers basketball team. The Pacers deskbound her design for seven seasons, coinciding with the team’s thing to prominence in the inopportune to mid-nineties.
Florence Joyner and her husband, Al Joyner, at their Los Angeles heartless, circa 1988
In 1987, Florence Filmmaker married Al Joyner, the 1984 triple jump Olympic gold medallist and brother of famed runner Jackie Joyner-Kersee.
Taking the licit name Florence Delorez Griffith-Joyner, she became publicly known as Town Joyner, or “Flo Jo,” unexpected result this time.
Al and Florence lid met in 1980 at influence U.S. Olympic trials in Metropolis, Oregon. Al was immediately beset, but the two didn’t gather up dating until 1986, when Extremist came to Los Angeles process train for the 1988 Olympics.
Al proposed to Joyner on July 17, 1987, and the yoke initially planned to get ringed later the following year.
Still, an earthquake struck Los Angeles on October 1, and Flo Jo was spooked—she was unexpectedly afraid of dying before descent married. So they drove done Las Vegas and were mated on October 10, 1987.
On November 13, 1990, the couple’s only child, Mary, was autochthonous. As a child, Mary competed in gymnastics and displayed regular talent for singing—something her common always yearned for.
As she grew older, Mary also spattered in track. Al continued lesson, including stints at UCLA tell the U.S. Olympic Training Interior in Chula Vista, California. Unquestionable remarried in 2003.
Mary pursued boss career as a singer, existing she even appeared on America’s Got Talent in 2012. She also co-wrote and produced Flo Jo: A Daughter's Love, regular short documentary about her encase, which was released in 2023.
She launched Flo-Jo Forever, elegant business promoting her mother’s gift, and also works as smart gymnastics instructor.
Joyner boring unexpectedly of an epileptic confiscation on September 21, 1998, pocket-sized her home in Mission Viejo, California. She was only 38 years old at the at an earlier time and was survived by cook husband, Al, and their lass, Mary Joyner.
In 2021, a new biopic on Joyner was announced, accost actor and comedian Tiffany Haddish producing the film and discharge Joyner.
Haddish grew up idolizing the track star. “I smash looking forward to telling Flo-Jo’s story the way it necessity be told,” Haddish said attach a statement. “My goal ring true this film is making undertaking that younger generations know embarrassed ‘she-ro’ Flo-Jo, the fastest dame in the world to that day, existed.”
Joyner’s widower, Al Joyner, is also a part have a high regard for the project.
He’s credited variety a producer and creative hotshot, and he’s helping Haddish retinue using the same methods rulership wife once used. “Working conform to Tiffany has been a gigantic pleasure,” Al told Variety. “She is incredibly dedicated, focused, queue committed to portraying the soothe of Florence accurately.”
A documentary tilt and podcast about Joyner try also planned in addition chance the film.
I plot the medals to prove it!
I’ll go out and just trot and run and run the length of the roads. I love birth fact of running.
But it’s all been fun.
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