orig. Delorez Florence Griffith
born Dec. 21, 1959, Los Angeles, Calif., U.S.
died Sept. 21, 1998, Mission Viejo, Calif.
U.S. sprinter.
At the 1984 Olympics she won a silver medal in the 200-m race and became a celebrity with her long, decorated fingernails and eye-catching racing suits. At the 1988 Olympic trials, she set a world record in the 100-m sprint (10.49 sec); at the games themselves, "FloJo" captured three gold medals (in the 100 m, 200 m, and 4 00D7; 100-m relay) and one silver (4 00D7; 400-m relay). Her world-record time in the 200 m (21.34 sec) and her earlier 100-m record still stood at the time of her death, which was attributed to a brain seizure.