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49 free Florence Griffith Joyner trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Florence Griffith Joyner trivia for track fans, Olympic history buffs and anyone who remembers the summer of 1988. The quiz covers Flo-Jo's whole story: growing up in the Jordan Downs projects in Watts, winning the Jesse Owens youth games two years running, dropping out of college to work as a bank teller, the boycotted 1980 Olympics, silver in Los Angeles in 1984, and the astonishing 1988 US trials where she ran 10.49 with a wind gauge reading zero on a windy day. It then covers Seoul - the 10.54 final, the 200-metre world records in the semi and final, the relay gold and silver - along with the style that made her famous: the one-legger, the hooded speed-skating suit, the four- and six-inch nails. There are questions on Al Joyner and Bob Kersee, the doping whispers and the tests she passed, the sudden retirement in February 1989, the endorsement money from Japan, the 400-metre comeback attempt, and her death in her sleep at 38 from a seizure caused by a congenital brain abnormality. Roughly a third of the questions are easy; the rest reward real fans. Every answer has been checked against a reference page and each question shows its source once you have answered.
30 of 49 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What was Florence Griffith Joyner's famous nickname?
Flo-Jo
Flo-Jo, a contraction of Florence and Joyner, became her name worldwide during her record-breaking 1988 season, when she set world records at both 100 and 200 metres.
Q 02What world-record 100 m time did Griffith Joyner run at the 1988 US Olympic trials?
10.49
10.49 beat Evelyn Ashford's record by 0.27 seconds, by far the biggest improvement since electronic timing began.
Q 03What was Griffith Joyner's world-record time in the 200 metres final at the 1988 Olympics?
21.34
Her 21.34 in the Olympic final on 29 September 1988 took 0.22 off the 21.56 world record she had set in the semi-final earlier that day.
Q 04Griffith Joyner won three golds at the 1988 Summer Olympics, held in which city?
Seoul
The 1988 Summer Olympics were held in Seoul, South Korea, from 17 September to 2 October; her 100 m win there came in 10.54 seconds.
Q 05How many Olympic medals did Griffith Joyner win in total at the 1988 Games?
Four - three gold and one silver
In Seoul she took four medals, three gold and one silver; only Fanny Blankers-Koen, with four golds in 1948, had a bigger single-Games haul by a female track and field athlete.
Q 06In which relay did Griffith Joyner win her only silver at the 1988 Olympics?
4 x 400
It was her first internationally rated 4 x 400; her 4 x 100 team took gold.
Q 07By roughly how much did she beat Evelyn Ashford in the 1988 Olympic 100 m final?
0.30
She won in 10.54 to Ashford's 10.83, a margin of about 0.30 seconds; Ashford, a fellow UCLA alumna, had held the world record before the 1988 trials.
Q 08What did the wind gauge read during her record trials run, despite the windy conditions?
±0.0 m/s
Studies have since estimated an illegal tailwind of 5 to 7 m/s; the IAAF never annulled the mark but statisticians list it as 'probably strongly wind assisted'.
Q 09Which sprinter equalled Griffith Joyner's 10.61 in the 2020 Olympic 100 m final and beat it in Eugene in 2021?
Elaine Thompson-Herah
Elaine Thompson-Herah ran 10.61 to win the Tokyo 2020 final, matching Griffith Joyner's 1988 trials-final time, then 10.54 at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene in August 2021, the second-fastest time ever at that point.
Q 10In which Los Angeles neighbourhood's Jordan Downs public housing complex did Griffith grow up?
Watts
Jordan Downs is a public housing project in the Watts district of South Los Angeles; she grew up there and ran for the local David Starr Jordan High School.
Q 11How many children were in the Griffith family, of whom Florence was the seventh?
Eleven
Florence was the seventh of eleven children of Robert and Florence Griffith, who separated when she was young; her mother raised the family in Los Angeles.
Q 12Which athletics event for young people did she win two years running at ages 14 and 15?
The Jesse Owens National Youth Games
She won the Jesse Owens National Youth Games at ages 14 and 15, having started running at weekend meets of the Sugar Ray Robinson Youth Foundation while in elementary school.
Q 13What job did Griffith take when she had to drop out of college to support her family?
Bank teller
Q 21Which coach did Griffith Joyner leave in July 1988, saying she wanted more personal attention?
Bob Kersee
Bob Kersee, who also coached Jackie Joyner-Kersee, lost her in July 1988 when she complained that he demanded his athletes use his management services; Al Joyner then became her full-time coach.
Q 22Griffith Joyner's nails, painted red, white, blue and gold for the 1988 Olympics, were famously how long?
Six inches
Six inches, up from the four-inch tiger-striped nails she wore at the trials before switching to fuchsia.
Q 23What unusual garment did she wear at the 1987 World Championships?
A hooded speed-skating body suit
She worked as a bank teller after leaving Cal State Northridge in 1979 to support her family; her coach found her financial aid and she returned to college at UCLA in 1980.
Q 14In what subject did Griffith graduate from UCLA in 1983?
Psychology
She graduated from UCLA with a degree in psychology in 1983, having begun her college career at California State University, Northridge, and transferred in 1980.
Q 15Why did Griffith not compete at the 1980 Olympics after reaching the 100 metres final at the US trials?
The United States boycotted the Games
The United States boycotted the Moscow Games over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, so the 1980 trials, where she reached the 100 m final, decided nothing.
Q 16Which teammate beat Griffith to 200 m gold at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics?
Valerie Brisco-Hooks
Valerie Brisco-Hooks won the 200 m in an Olympic record 21.81, with Griffith second in 22.04; Brisco-Hooks also took the 400 m and 4 x 400 m relay golds in Los Angeles.
Q 17In which city did Griffith Joyner take 200 metres silver at the 1987 World Championships?
Rome
At the 1987 World Championships in Rome she took 200 m silver behind East Germany's Silke Gladisch and won gold in the 4 x 100 m relay.
Q 18What was her 100 metres personal best before the 1988 season, a time not even in the top 40 of all time?
10.96
She improved it by 0.47 seconds in a single year, which fuelled the doping suspicions.
Q 19Whom did Griffith marry in 1987?
Al Joyner, the 1984 triple jump champion
Al Joyner, the 1984 triple jump champion, married her on 10 October 1987; the two had first met at the 1980 Olympic trials.
Q 20In which California city is Griffith Joyner buried, at El Toro Memorial Park?
Lake Forest
El Toro Memorial Park is in Lake Forest, Orange County, California; she was buried there after her death in September 1998.
Unlike most sprinters she also kept her hair long and wore jewellery while racing.
Q 24What did the teenage Griffith persuade her high-school track team to wear with their uniforms?
Tights
She talked her Jordan High team into racing in tights, an early sign of her flair; by graduation in 1978 she held school records in the sprints and the long jump.
Q 25In which month and year did Griffith Joyner abruptly announce her retirement from racing?
February 1989
She announced her retirement on 25 February 1989, five months after Seoul and shortly before The Athletics Congress introduced mandatory random out-of-competition drug testing.
Q 26Which honour for the top US amateur athlete did she receive for 1988, the month after retiring?
The James E. Sullivan Award
The James E. Sullivan Award, given since 1930 to the top US amateur athlete, went to her for 1988; she was also named Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year.
Q 27In which country did most of her lucrative post-Olympic endorsement deals come from?
Japan
She also signed with LJN Toys for a Barbie-like doll in her likeness.
Q 28For which NBA team did Griffith Joyner design the uniforms in 1989?
Indiana Pacers
The same year she played herself in an episode of the sitcom 227.
Q 29In which soap opera did she appear in 1992 as a photographer named Terry Holloway?
Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, the NBC daytime soap set in the California coastal city, gave her a 1992 role as photographer Terry Holloway, one of several acting cameos after she retired.
Q 30Which presidential body did she co-chair from 1993 to 1998?
The President's Council on Physical Fitness
President Clinton named her co-chair of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports in 1993, alongside former congressman Tom McMillen, a post she held until her death in 1998.