50 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 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What was Florence Griffith Joyner's famous nickname?
Flo-Jo
Her family called her 'Dee Dee'; the world knew her by the shortened form by the time she reached the 1988 Olympics.
Q 02What still-standing 100 m world record did Griffith Joyner run at the 1988 US Olympic trials?
10.49
It 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
She had set a world record of 21.56 in the semi-final earlier the same day and then took another 0.22 off it.
Q 04In which city were the 1988 Summer Olympics, where she won three golds, held?
Seoul
Fellow athletes including Ben Johnson voiced disbelief at her sudden improvement when she arrived there.
Q 05How many Olympic medals did Griffith Joyner win in total at the 1988 Games?
Four - three gold and one silver
At the time only Fanny Blankers-Koen, with four golds in 1948, had a bigger haul for 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 how much did she beat Evelyn Ashford in the 1988 Olympic 100 metres final, which she won in 10.54?
0.30
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
The 10.61 came in the 1988 trials final, the day after her record; over two days she ran the three fastest women's 100 metres ever.
Q 10In which Los Angeles neighbourhood's Jordan Downs public housing complex did Griffith grow up?
Watts
She was the seventh child of an electrician and a seamstress and ran for Jordan High School.
Q 11How many children were in the Griffith family, of whom Florence was the seventh?
Eleven
Her father Robert was an electrician and her mother, also called Florence, a seamstress.
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 had started running at weekend track meets with the Sugar Ray Robinson Organization while still in elementary school.
Q 13What job did Griffith take when she had to drop out of college to support her family?
Bank teller
Her coach found her financial aid and she returned to college at UCLA in 1980, later styling hair and nails in her spare time.
Q 21Which coach did Griffith Joyner leave in July 1988, saying she wanted more personal attention?
Bob Kersee
He also required his athletes to use his management services; she signed with manager Gordon Baskin and moved to UC Irvine with her husband as full-time coach.
Q 22What did Griffith Joyner call her April 1988 running suit with one leg to the ankle and the other cut off?
The one-legger
The suits came in lime green and purple with white bikini bottoms and lightning bolts; she designed most of her outfits herself.
Q 23How long were her nails at the 1988 Olympic Games, painted red, white, blue and gold?
Six inches
Q 14In what subject did Griffith graduate from UCLA in 1983?
Psychology
She had begun at California State University, Northridge, before following Kersee to UCLA.
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
She finished last in that trials final and a foot outside a qualifying place in the 200, but the results were moot anyway.
Q 16Which teammate beat Griffith to 200 m gold at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics?
Valerie Brisco-Hooks
Ashford, an early favourite, had withdrawn from the 200 with an injury.
Q 17In which city did Griffith Joyner take 200 metres silver at the 1987 World Championships?
Rome
That season put her second in the Track and Field News world rankings, though she was only seventh in the US over 100 metres.
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
They had met at the 1980 Olympic trials; she had earlier been briefly engaged to hurdler Greg Foster.
Q 20In which California city is Griffith Joyner buried, at El Toro Memorial Park?
Lake Forest
She had died at home in nearby Mission Viejo, whose city later dedicated a park at the entrance to her neighbourhood.
At the trials they had been four inches long with tiger stripes before she switched to fuchsia.
Q 24What unusual garment did she wear at the 1987 World Championships?
A hooded speed-skating body suit
Unlike most sprinters she also kept her hair long and wore jewellery while racing.
Q 25What did the teenage Griffith persuade her high-school track team to wear with their uniforms?
Tights
By graduation from Jordan High in 1978 she held school records in sprints and the long jump.
Q 26In which month and year did Griffith Joyner abruptly announce her retirement from racing?
February 1989
It came days before a vote by The Athletic Congress to introduce mandatory random year-round drug testing.
Q 27Which honour for the top US amateur athlete did she receive for 1988, the month after retiring?
The James E. Sullivan Award
She also took the 1988 World Athletics Award for women.
Q 28In 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 29For 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 30In which soap opera did she appear in 1992 as a photographer named Terry Holloway?
Santa Barbara
The character was modelled on Annie Leibovitz.