Every U.S. state is home to at least one medal winner in either the Summer or Winter Olympics.
California: Florence Griffith Joyner
California’s 122 individual gold medals in the Summer and Winter Games combined are double that of any other state, and it is predictability one of the tougher states to rank. In particular, The Golden State has been home to some of the most decorated swimmers in Olympic history, including Mark Spitz.
However, California’s greatest Olympian was a track athlete, not a swimmer. Griffith Joyner became one of the most adored American athletes ever in the 1980s, and backed up that popularity with her performances on the track.
The Los Angeles native got her first crack at the Olympics in her hometown in 1984 after the United States government boycotted the 1980 Games in Moscow. Against a tough field that included Valerie Brisco-Hooks, Griffith Joyner captured a silver medal in the 200m.
Nobody expected Griffith Joyner to develop into the greatest women’s sprinter ever after that performance, but she set the world record in the 100m with a time of 10.49 seconds at the 1988 U.S. Olympics Trials. Griffith Joyner carried that momentum into the Seoul Games, smashing the field in the Olympic 100m final to win gold.
Later on in the same Games, Griffith Joyner set the 200m world record twice, posting an unheard of time of 21.34 seconds in the final to win gold. Both her 100m and 200m records still stand, and nobody has come within 0.2 seconds of topping the 200m record.
Griffith Joyner also won gold in the 4x100m and silver in the 4x400m in Seoul, giving her a total of five medals in her Olympic career. While Spitz has one of the top medal hauls ever, and won an incredible seven golds in 1972, the fact some of Griffith Joyner’s marks still stand nearly three decades later makes her the greatest Californian Olympian ever.
No comments:
Post a Comment