Family, Friends Praise 'FloJo'

Florence Griffith Joyner's flowing black hair, skintight outfits and glittering 6-inch fingernails brought a model-like presence to track and field, where she left still-unequaled marks as the fastest and most fashionable woman sprinter in history.

Griffith Joyner, 38, died at her Mission Viejo home early Monday. A family friend attributed the death to a heart-related problem.

An autopsy did not immediately determine the cause of death, a sheriff's spokesman said Tuesday.

"It could take a few days or a few weeks," said Lt. Hector Rivera of the Orange County Sheriff's Department. He added that she died in her sleep during the night.

Rivera said the coroner started the autopsy Monday. Among the procedures was a toxicology test, which is done when the cause of death is unknown.

Her husband, Al Joyner, the 1984 Olympic triple jump champion, called paramedics after finding her "unresponsive and not breathing."

A decade ago this week, "FloJo" won three gold medals at the Seoul Olympics, where her sister-in-law, six-time Olympic medalist and world heptathlon record-holder Jackie Joyner-Kersee, also starred.

Griffith Joyner still holds world records in the 100- and 200-meter dashes.

She set the 100 mark of 10.49 seconds in the quarterfinals of the 1988 Olympic trials at Indianapolis, and since then no one has even broken 10.60. At Seoul, she won the gold medal in a wind-aided 10.54.

Griffith Joyner then smashed the world 200 record in the Olympic final, clocking 21.34. American Marion Jones, with a 21.62 at the World Cup in South Africa earlier this month, is the only other woman to run the 200 in under 21.70.

Griffith Joyner also won a gold medal in the 400 relay and just missed a fourth gold medal when the U.S. team finished second in the 1,600 relay, which Griffith Joyner anchored.

"It's an amaing legacy. Many have tried and all have failed in terms of her records," said nine-time Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis. Her death "is something that impacts the sport when the sport is hurting very, very bad."

Joyner-Kersee Tuesday praised her sister-in-law as "a woman of substance."

Track and field had never seen such an exotic creature as Griffith Joyner. At the 1988 trials, she stunned fans and competitors by running in a purple bodysuit with a turquoise bikini brief over it, but nothing on her left leg. She called the design a "one-legger."

"She proved a beautiful woman could go out and be a phenomenal athlete," said Dwight Stones, a two-time Olympic bronze high jump medalist. "We won't know for a long time how many female athletes she inspired by being her own person."

At the Olympics, she painted three of her fingernails red, white and blue, and she painted a fourth gold to signify her goal.

"She liked her fingernails and pretty hair," said Olympic gold medalist Evelyn Ashford, her chief rival in the early '80s.

At the 1987 World Championships in Rome, Griffith Joyner caused a sensation by running the first two rounds in a skintight suit similar to a speedskater's togs.

"What Florence brought to track was a flash and a flair that we didn't have, which was probably good for the sport and got attention for us," Ashford said.

Griffith Joyner's muscular physique prompted talk of steroid use, but she insisted she never used performance enhancers and she never failed a drug test.

"She was very, very determined," said Jeanette Bolden, a former Olympic teammate and UCLA head women's track and field coach. "There was no impossibility to anything. She really tried to live that."

Greg Foster, a three-time world champion in the 110-meter hurdles, said he was told by her family that Griffith Joyner died of a heart-related problem.

Primo Nebiolo, the head of the IAAF, track's international federation, said he knew Griffith Joyner had "some serious heart problems in recent months," although one of her brothers, Weldon Pitts, said she had shown no sign of illness recently.

Griffith Joyner had suffered a seizure two years ago on a flight from California to St. Louis, and was hospitalized for one day. Her family did not disclose the ailment.

Griffith Joyner was born Dec. 21, 1959, in the Watts section of Los Angeles. She graduated from David Starr Jordan High School in 1978, attended Cal State Northridge for two years, then graduated from UCLA in 1983 with a degree in psychology.

She married Al Joyner in 1987. They have a 7-year-old daughter, Mary Ruth.

For many years, she was coached by Bob Kersee, husband of Jackie Joyner-Kersee, but Al Joyner acted as her coach after the 1988 trials.

Griffith Joyner retired from track after the Seoul Olympics, and she served as co-chair of the President's Council on Physical Fitnes.

"She showed so many young kids that sports was a real alternative to drugs and violence," said actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who worked with her on the President's Council.

Joyner-Kersey said Tuesday morning on the Today show that her sister-in-law, even when tired, always found time "to put a smile on a young person's face."

"She accomplished amazing things on the track as well as off the track," Joyner-Kersee said.

In recent years, Griffith Joyner designed and modeled clothes and worked with children, both through sports programs and a series of books.

"What exactly is a role model? Is it someone that is trying to set positive examples for kids?" she told The Associated Press in 1994. "Then that's what I'm trying to do. I'm very happy to have that title."

She tried a comeback before the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, but problems with her right Achilles' tendon forced her to abandon the attempt.

"It's been hard for me. All the training I've done, I've never had problems with my Achilles," she said at the time. "My husband tells me I'm getting older. I tell him to shut up."

Funeral arrangements were not immediately announced.

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