Athletics · 1988 · Seoul, South Korea
Flo-Jo's Untouchable Double
An American sprinter arrives at the Seoul Olympics already the fastest woman ever timed, then adds an Olympic 200m world record that has not been approached in the decades since.
21.34s (world record)
200m final time
3 (100m, 200m, 4x100m)
Golds at Seoul
10.49s (US Trials, 1988)
100m world record
Florence Griffith Joyner had rewritten the record books weeks earlier at the US Olympic Trials in Indianapolis, running a wind-legal 10.49 seconds for 100m that instantly became, and remains, the world record. She arrived in Seoul as the sport's biggest star, known as much for her flowing hair, painted nails, and one-legged running suits as for her speed.
She won the 100m final in 10.54 seconds, then went faster still in the 200m, breaking her own new world record in the semi-final before running 21.34 seconds in the final on 29 September 1988, a mark that stood as an outright world record more than three and a half decades later. She added a third gold in the 4x100m relay and silver in the 4x400m.
Griffith Joyner retired from athletics the following year, at the peak of her powers, amid persistent doping speculation that was never substantiated by a positive test. Her times, especially the 200m world record, have proven so durable that they remain among the most debated and most admired marks in the sport's history.
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