Flo Jo And The Question That Will Never Be Answered.

Still on the subject of drugs and cheating, following on from my blogs concerning Justin Gatlin and Floyd Landis who looked me straight in the eye and insisted their innocence, only to come clean later: I bring you Florence Griffith Joyner, aka Flo Jo. It was in 1989 in an outdoor bar overlooking the crashing waves of the Pacific Ocean in the Southern Californian resort of Laguna Beach, and sitting opposite me was the American sprint star who, a year earlier, I had watched claim the Olympic 100 metres title in a staggering time of 10.54 seconds. A few weeks' earlier, in the US trials, she had obliterated the world record by running 10.49 seconds, a mark that has remained unsurpassed until this day, nearly 22 years' later. Before 1988 Flo Jo had been one of the most strikingly beautiful athletes in the world. When I interviewed her in Laguna it was hard not to observe the following - a jaw line that had changed shape, a noticeable lowering of her voice tone, and acne on her face that, aged 29, had not been there before. I asked her about the constant rumours that she had taken performance-enhancing substances, but she insisted her incredible improvement was down to "hard work and faith in the Lord." Nine years' later she died, just shy of her 38th birthday. after suffocating in her sleep after a seizure. The world will never know for sure about Florence Griffith-Joyner, but on warm, breezy afternoon high above the seaside town of Laguna Beach, I formed my own, sad view of a tragic story that still had one, final, fatal twist to turn.