Section: WARMUPS
WORLD RECORDS
Six years ago this month, Florence Griffith Joyner ran a world record 10.49 seconds for 100 meters in the first quarterfinal at the U.S. Olympic Trials. But now a new study is questioning whether Griffith Joyner’s performance was in fact wind-aided.
Nicholas Linthorne, a physicist at the University of Western Australia, analyzed scores of top 100-meter times and attendant wind readings and uncovered a mathematical relationship between the two. In fact, all of the results he analyzed fit into that relationship–except for those from the first and second quarterfinals of the women’s 100 at the '88 U.S. Trials.
At the time of both quarterfinals, Omega timing equipment reported wind readings of 0.0 meters per second, Linthorne contends, however, that there had to be at least a 5.5-meter-per-second tailwind for FloJo’s time (and the times of her fellow sprinters in that race) to fit his equations.
This is not the first time that the 0.0 wind reading from that race has been called into question. Many observers have pointed out that it couldn’t possibly have been accurate, given that strong tailwinds were measured for the triple jumps taking place at the same time in the same direction alongside the trade. What’s more, all other track-race wind readings that day were positive, most coming in over the allowable limit of 2.0 meters per second for world records. But Omega officials contended that nothing was wrong with their equipment when FloJo ran her 10.49.
Members of the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) records committee are reviewing Linthorne’s data. But even if the IAAF should decertify FloJo’s 10.49, she’d still hold the world record with the 10.61 she ran in the finals with a legal wind of 1.2 meters per second.
10 Fastest U.S. Women at 100 Meters
10.49[1] Florence Griffith Joyner '88
10.76 Evelyn Ashford '84
10.78 Dawn Sowell '89
10.82 Gail Devers '92
10.83[2] Sheila Echols '88
10.86[1] Diane Williams '88
10.86 Gwen Torrence '92
10.92[2] Alice Brown '88
10.94 Carlette Guidry '91
10.99 Valerie Brisco '86
1Set in U.S. Olympic Trials first quarterfinal
2Set in U.S. Olympic Trials second quarterfinal
PHOTO: Gone with the wind? Florence Griffith Joyner’s fabled 10.49 for 100 meters may be blown out of the record books.