Delorez Florence Griffith-Joyner a.k.a. Flo-Jo (December 21, 1959 - September 21, 1998) was an American athlete, still holder of the World Records in the 100 m and 200 m as of 2005. She was the wife of track star Al Joyner and the sister-in-law of Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

Already fast at an early age, Los Angeles born Florence Griffith finished fourth in the 200 m at the inaugural World Championships in 1983.

The following year, she gained much more attention, though mostly because of her extremely long and colorful fingernails rather than her silver medal in the Los Angeles Olympics 200 m.

After these Olympics, Griffith spent less time running and married 1984 Olympic triple jump champion Al Joyner. Returning at the 1987 World Championships, she finished second in the 200 m again.

She stunned the world when-known as a 200 m runner-she ran a new 100 m World Record of 10.49 in the quarter-finals of the US Olympic Trials. Every event on that day measured excessive wind speeds and this lead many later suggested the wind meter in the stadium malfunctioned during the race, but the record is still recognized. Al Joyner, her coach stated that he believed the 10.49 run to be wind aided as well. Flo-Jo never ran faster than 10.61 without excessive wind assistance that season.

Known lovingly by the world as "Flo-Jo", Griffith-Joyner was the big favorite for the titles in the sprint events at the 1988 Summer Olympics. In the 100 m, she ran a (wind-assisted) 10.54 in the final, beating her nearest rival Evelyn Ashford by 3 tenths of a second. In the 200 m, she set a new world record of 21.34, winning by .4 seconds. Griffith-Joyner was also a runner in both the 4 x 100 m and 4 x 400 m relay teams. She won a gold medal in the former event, and a silver in the latter, her first international 4 x 400 m relay. Her effort in the 100m was ranked 98th in Channel 4's 100 Greatest Sporting Moments in 2002. She was the 1988 recipient of the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States.

During her 1988 breakthrough year, Griffith-Joyner was dogged by rumors of drug use. Some of her track competitors insisted that her times could only be the result of using steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs, mainly because her performance improved dramatically over a short period of time (and when she was rather old for a sprinter), but also because some claimed she sported a tiny moustache; also, her voice deepened and her jaw-line thickened. Some athletes also claimed that her glamorous trackwear, vivid make-up and elaborately-decorated fingernails were designed to distract from the physical changes due to steroids.

To add to that controversy Flo-Jo retired from competitive track and field right after her olympic victories. Many have jokingly claimed that if she could just jog 100m her appearance fees and endorsement contract would be worth multiple millions during 1989. 1989 was the beginning of the out of competition doping controls. Prior to 1989 you could only be caught doping during competition. It was known that many athletes used performance enhancing drugs during training and allowed sufficient time for the drugs to pass through the system before competition.

Among the things she did away from the track was design the basketball uniforms for the Indiana Pacers.

Death

In 1998, Griffith Joyner died in her sleep at her home in Mission Viejo, California. On October 22, the sheriff-coroner's office annouced the cause of death as: "1) positional asphyxia 2) epileptiform seizure 3) cavernous angioma, left orbital frontal cerebrum".

The cavernous angioma referred to a brain abnormality discovered during the autopsy that made Joyner subject to seizures. In 1990 she had, according to a family attorney, suffered a grand mal sizeure and had been treated for seizures in 1990, 1993 and 1994.

The cause of death in effect said that she had suffocated in her pillow during a severe epileptic seizure. The autopsy established that performance-enhancing drugs did not kill her, although it did not establish whether she took such drugs in the past.

There has been some speculation, mostly by anti-dairy organizations, that extreme congestion from the intake of dairy products was the cause of death, and not a seizure.

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