American field and track star, actress and businesswoman. Griffith set world records in the 100 and 200 meter races at the Seoul Olympic Games in 1988. Beautiful, poised and fast, Griffith was adored by the sports media cameras. She was able to move her career to the front of television cameras, guest appearing in 227 shows.
Griffith was one of ten children growing up in the Jordan Downs project in Watts, CA. Her mother, Florence and her father Robert Griffith divorced when Flo was very young. The children spent their school holidays with their strict caring dad at his home in the Mojave Desert. “Dee-Dee” was raised to be self-reliant and independent. Her parents wanted her and her siblings to believe in themselves despite living in the ‘projects.’ She was forbidden to use slang and encouraged to speak proper English. Neighborhood kids laughed and ridiculed Griffith and her siblings for behaving different from others. The Griffith children were encouraged to read, paint, and had limited TV viewing.
Griffith started running with her brothers at the age of seven. As a kid, she dreamed of becoming a beautician, designer, artist and poet. In high school, she remained shy but determined to make a life for herself. She felt different from her classmates and learned to keep her unexpressed emotions and feelings inside. She enrolled at California State University- Northridge but soon found funds lacking to continue her education. She dropped out of school and took a job as a bank teller. Her university track and field coach, Bob Kersee located financial aid for the athlete and she returned to school. She followed him to UCLA, and under his guidance she won the National Collegiate Championship in 1982.
Out of sheer dedication and determination, Griffith set her goals on obtaining a world record or an Olympic gold medal before retiring from the sport of track. She finished second in the National Collegiate Championship in 1983. The following year at the Los Angeles Summer Olympics in front of her hometown crowd, Griffith won the Silver Medal in the 200 meter.
In 1986, she hit rock bottom in her running career. Needing to support herself financially, she worked at the bank full-time. She gained an extra 15 pounds and had little time for a coach and running workouts. Griffith looked back at this period in her life as the lowest. Her dreams of triumph at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea were slipping away. At this time, Al Joyner came into her life. Joyner, a triple jump Gold medal winner in the LA games and brother of Griffith’s UCLA track teammate, Jackie Joyner, fell in love with the beautiful Griffith. In order to romance her, he accepted the role as her running partner. Griffith worked on her start and speed. In Seoul, with a stunning performance, she won three Gold Medals, and set the world records in the 100 and 200 meter races, records that still stand ten years later. In 1988, the sports media covered the estrangement between Griffith and her former coach and brother-in-law, Bob Kersee.
Al Joyner first met his wife at the 1980 Olympic try-outs for the Moscow games and was captivated by her shyness and regal presence. He moved to Los Angeles from the University of Arkansas in order to court Flo-Jo who had no idea at the time that he was enamored of her beauty. Griffith’s track competitors viewed her as arrogant, cocky and unapproachable. On 10 October 1987, Griffith and Joyner married at a Las Vegas wedding chapel. Their daughter Mary Ruth was born in November 1990.
Media sports coverage of Griffith concentrated on her sleek beauty, with her skin-tight lycra running suit, flowing black mane of hair, and six-inch glittering nails, along with her stunning speed. As well as her many guest role appearances in TV sit-coms, she played parts in “Santa Barbara” and “The Chase.” She designed sportswear and the NBA uniforms for the Indiana Pacers and was the co-owner of New Company Nails.
Griffith died an abrupt and unexpected death on 21 September 1998 at the age of 38. She had an epileptic seizure that caused asphyxiation at her home in Mission Viejo, California.
Link to Wikipedia biography