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Florence Griffith-Joyner
Sprinter & fastest woman in recorded history
In one blazing summer she set world records that still stand more than three decades later — and did it with six-inch nails and one-legged racing suits that rewrote what a champion could look like.
The rise
Growing up in the Watts housing projects of Los Angeles, Griffith-Joyner ran in the 1984 Olympics, winning a silver medal. She stepped away, worked as a bank teller, and returned in 1988 under the coaching of Al Joyner. At the U.S. Olympic Trials she ran 100 metres in 10.49 seconds — a world record so fast the wind gauge was checked and rechecked — then swept three golds and a silver at the Seoul Olympics.