Florence Griffith Joyner’s 33-year-old Olympic record has finally been broken. On Saturday, Jamaican Elaine Thompson-Herah ran the 100-meter dash at 10.61 seconds, one second faster than Griffith-Joyner.
The late great set the world record of 10.62 at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. The record-breaking win marks her third Olympic gold medal, including her 100m and 200m titles from Rio five years ago.
“Just a lil girl from BANANA GROUND who liked to run,” the 29-year-old tweeted. “Believe In your dreams work hard and have faith in God…ETH.”
The official Twitter for Olympics tweeted a picture of Thompson-Herah wrapped in the Jamaican flag. “This photo deserves ALL the likes,” the caption read
Thompson-Herah’s victory officially secures her as the second-fastest woman in the world. FloJo’s world record of 10.49, made in Indianapolis still stands to beat.
Watch the race below:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P31BXybHAr8]
Jamaican-owed
Overall, the 100-meter finals rained green, yellow, and black. Thompson-Herah beat out two-time gold medalist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, by .13 seconds. Pryce earned the silver medal.
Jamaican sprinter, Shericka Jackson picked up the bronze for 10.76. American Teahna Daniels ended in 7th place with a time of 11.02. It was the first Jamaican sweep of the Olympics since the 2008 Beijing Games.
Jamaica’s prime minister, Andrew Holness, celebrated the wins in a series of tweets on Saturday.
“Proud cya done! #TeamJamaica 1,2,3. Congratulations to our women for a scintillating final,” he wrote. “Let’s continue to make history!”
Who was FloJo?
Griffith Joyner, known as FloJo, is the fastest woman of all time, setting world records in both the 100-meters and 200-meters at the 1988 Olympic games. Before Sha’Carri Richardson and hashtags, FloJo’s iconic, signature long, acrylic nails were trending. Griffith Joyner died in 1998 after an epileptic seizure.
The heats for the 200m finals begin on Monday. And there was hope that Thompson-Herah will try and go for FloJo’s 200m world record, which she ran in 21.34. But according to CNN, Thompson-Herah will not run the 200m due to an injury, which FloJo’s 200 meters record still stands.
