FloJo lived her life in
fast-forward
by Merrell
Noden
Posted: Tue September 22, 1998
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(Peter Read Miller) |
Sports Illustrated special contributor Merrell Noden
covered the 1988 Olympics. He filed this commentary
exclusively for
CNN/SI.
All those numbers we use to measure an athlete's
worth—the number of home runs in a season, the precise
time it takes to run 100 meters down a track—seem
small and insignificant when set against the awful,
incontrovertible fact of death, especially an
early death like that of Olympic sprint champion Florence
Griffith Joyner, who was only
38.
Griffith Joyner, who died in her sleep on Monday of an
apparent heart attack, was an astonishing athlete, and also
a controversial one. Competing at a time when the sport's
profile was sinking, Griffith Joyner was like a gaudy comet
flashing across the
sky. In mid-1988, in the short span of 75 days, she
tranformed herself into FloJo, a flesh-and-blood action
hero who dazzled the world with her six-inch long
fingernails and sexy running attire, scorching tracks and
retinas with her line of skin-tight
negligées, some of which she dubbed
"one-leggers."
The 100-meter record (10.49) she set at the 1988 U.S.
Olympic Trials in Indianapolis stands unchallenged to this
day, and it will surprise no one if it remains in the books
for another 20 years. Indeed, the time was so fast it
immediately ignited rumors
of drug use that even she was unable to outrun. After all,
as Kenny Moore pointed out in a story for SI's 1988 Olympic
Preview Issue, 10.49 was the equivalent of a hand-timed 9.4
100 yards—equal to O.J. Simpson's best time, and he
had been part of a
world-record relay
team.
The running was actually the simple part. What was tougher
was explaining how Griffith Joyner went from world-class to
something previously unseen on this planet. When she added
the world record for the 200 (21.34) in Seoul and then
abruptly retired
just months later, before she could reap all the financial
rewards which no doubt would have been showered on her, she
could not escape the suspicion that she was fleeing the
sport while she could. Despite the persistent rumors,
Griffith Joyner passed 11
drug tests in 1988 and always denied she had done anything
unethical.
In contrast to her husband, 1984 Olympic triple jump
champion Al Joyner, who was unfailingly sweet and
happy-go-lucky, Griffith Joyner could seem distant at
times. Her exotic beauty made her appear remote and
unapproachable. What she possessed in
enormous quantities was an astonishing determination to
succeed.
Growing up poor in the Watts section of Los Angeles, the
seventh of 11 children, she decided very early on to make
something of herself. As a student at Cal State-Northridge,
she rode L.A. city buses for hours each way to attend
classes. In the end,
unable it seemed to settle on any one career, Griffith Joyner
chose them all: She was the author of a series of
children's books featuring a character named Barry Bam Bam,
and she was also a poet, fashion designer, actress and
model. In 1989 she even helped
design new uniforms for the Indiana
Pacers.
At the time of her death she was serving as co-chair of the
President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.
President Clinton eulogized her as a champion of children.
"We were dazzled by her speed, humbled by her talent,
and captivated by her
style," he said. "Though she rose to the pinnacle of the
world of sports, she never forgot where she came from,
devoting time and resources to helping
children—especially those growing up in our most
devastated neighborhoods—make the most of their own
talents."
As she made the most of
hers.
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