ESPN Classic - Sisters-in-law are Golden at Olympics in Seoul
Sisters-in-law are Golden at Olympics in Seoul
By Larry Schwartz
Special to ESPN.com
Sept. 29, 1988
Florence Griffith Joyner and Jackie Joyner-Kersee already had a gold medal apiece at the Seoul Olympics, Flo Jo having won the 100 meters and her sister-in-law having taken the heptathlon with a world-record performance. Today, they each go for the gold again.
After breaking a 9-year-old world record of 21.71 seconds in the 200 with a clocking of 21.56 seconds in the semifinals, Flo Jo runs even faster 100 minutes later in the final. She pulls away in the last 100 meters and leaps happily across the finish line in winning by four meters in a remarkable 21.34. Joyner-Kersee also gets her second gold when she leaps 24 feet, 3� inches, an Olympic record, in the long jump.
Flo Jo will earn two more medals two days later in the relays, getting a gold in the 4x100 and a silver in the 4x440.
On Sept. 21, 1998, at age 38, she died of an epileptic seizure.