Monitor: Comment on the death of Florence Griffith-Joyner
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Your support makes all the difference.FLOJO IS done running, but minds race. That's how it goes in these fast times. A star so bright disappears so young. We wince. We cringe. They say it was her heart, but we know it had to be something worse. There she was: hair flowing in the wind, skintight suits, nails as long as her smile was wide. She brought joy, along with the color fuchsia, to what she did. Today's athletes can learn from FloJo. She was ahead of even her times. It had seemed as though that would be her legacy: vibrant, young, winning. Now we wait to see if she paid the ultimate price for her success. Wink-wink, nod-nod rumors rise from the grave. We might never know if FloJo took anything, or if anything took her. Maybe some of us don't want to know. The autopsy report might not be issued for days. Well, you go ahead and wait. But ask yourself something. What does it matter now? FloJo's dead. Gone too soon. In a flash.
Tampa Tribune
GRIFFITH JOYNER credited her achievements to a strict regime of diet and fitness. While critics charged that she must have indulged in performance- enhancing chemicals, such as anabolic steroids, Griffith Joyner not only denied those allegations, but also consistently tested negative for drugs. An autopsy should settle speculation once and for all. Fans will long remember Griffith Joyner's sheer enjoyment of her role as "the world's fastest woman'', proudly bedecked in skintight body suits, flaunting her glittering fingernails and long tresses. Along with the glitz she infused into women's athletics, she proved that a determined sportswoman can become the best.
Denver Post
SHE FINISHED her life in the way she spent much of it - with controversy and accusations flying at her heels. Within hours of the announcement that the world's fastest woman had died at just 38, athletics was again discussing the suspicions of drug abuse that hovered over her career. She was tainted with accusations that her performances in Seoul were only achieved on the back of steroid abuse and was surrounded by rumours that her striking new muscle definition was chemically induced. FloJo did not go gentle into the night.
Hong Kong Standard
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