Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Flo Jo: A True Olympic Legend



Everybody is talking about the Olympic Games these days. It's a wonderful sports event, that's usually worth waiting for. Politics and current events sometimes mar the glorious event, but the drama and competition usually make up for it.

Even the Olympics needs heroes, though. Names like Carl Lewis, Ben Johnson, Greg Louganis, Nadia Comaneci, Jesse Owens, Mark Spitz, Johnny Weissmuller, Emil Zatopek and more. Those super-stars shine above all and make the games far more interesting and dramatic.

For me, one star was the brightest of them all. Despite controversy, question marks and doubts. She was glorious, amazing, dramatic, flaring, powerful and graceful. When I think about "Olympics" - I think about her. Florence Griffith Joyner. A true legend, that blazed through the Seoul Olympics and left us all breathless and awed. She was amazing - a real star - and I don't remember any other Olympic moment that thrilled me more than watching Flo Jo run.

Florence Griffith Joyner won 3 gold medals in the 1988 Seoul Olympics: in the 4X100 meter relay, the 200 meter race and the all-important 100 meter. She also won one silver medal, in the 4X400 meter relay. The world record that she has set in the 100m run still stands unbroken - 10.49 seconds.




Her career was short and blazing. She had real style and if you saw her running - it was something that was very hard to forget.

Flo Jo died in her sleep in 1998 - she was 39 years old. Another legend that has died young.

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