In 1985, she won the final of the Grand Prix with 11.00 seconds.ĭespite being arguably among the best female athletes in the country, in 1985 Griffith was forced to rejoin the workaday world to make ends meet.
FLORENCE GRIFFITH JOYNER TRIAL
Winning the silver medal at the Olympic trial in Los Angeles in 1984 for the 200 meter race, Flo Jo gained attention, though mostly because of her extremely long and colorful fingernails, and her snazzy running outfit that showed off her beautiful legs. Griffith finished fourth in the 200 meters at the inaugural World Championship in 1983. Florence Griffith-Joyner now had track star Jackie Joyner as a sister-in-law. In 1987, Griffith and Joyner finally married, becoming US track and field’s equivalent of a royal family. The athletic pair met again four years later at the Olympic trials in Los Angeles. Too shy to ask her out he pinned her picture up in his dorm room. Although she didn't qualify for the Olympics, Flo Jo made a lasting impression on triple jumper Al Joyner. In 1980 Florence Griffith tried out for the 1980 Olympics, at the Olympic trials in Oregon. When her old coach landed an assistant coaching job at UCLA, he was able to get a scholarship for Florence Griffith and she reemerged in the college spotlight where her her meteoric speed earned her the 1982 NCAA title in the 200-meter dash. Unable to afford college, Flo Jo dropped out for two years and worked as a bank teller. Before graduating in 1978, she had broken Los Angeles Jordan High School's records in sprints and long jump.įollowing graduation, Griffith competed at California State Northridge under the legendary sprint coach Bob Kersee and helped them win the national championship in 1978. At the age of 14, she won the Jesse Owens National Youth Games. Only seven, Florence won her first race, the Sugar Ray Robinson Youth Foundation Competition in Los Angeles. Flo was the only sibling to actually catch one and the family soon gave her the nickname "Jackrabbit". her father would often take the family to the Mojave Desert to let them chase and try to catch Jackrabbits, which are one of the fastest animals on earth.
African American track star Florence Griffith-Joyner was an outstanding female sprinter of her generation, winning three gold medals at the Seoul Olympics in 1988.īorn in Los Angeles, California on December 21, 1959, Florence Delorez Griffith grew up in housing project in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles as the seventh of eleven children.
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