Florence Joyner was the American woman, who most female track runners wanted to be like. Many may know Joyner as “Flo Jo”. She was given that name because of her great speed. Joyner is considered to be the fastest woman of all time, based on the fact that she set the world record in 1988 in the 100m dash and 200m dash. Since her death, her records still stands in the 100m dash and 200m dash, running a 10.49 and 21.34. There are very fascinating and inspiring things about Joyner that some people may not know about her. Florence Joyner was born in Los Angeles, California, on December 21, 1959, in and went on to become one of the fastest competitive runners of the 1980s. Joyner began running at the age of 7, and her gift for speed soon became …show more content…
apparent. At the age of 14, she won the Jesse Owens National Youth Games. She later competed for Jordan High School, where she served as the anchor on the relay team, and then went on to race at the college level. After attending California State University at Northridge, Joyner transferred to the University of California Los Angeles, where she quickly earned a reputation as a track star. She became a NCAA champion in 1982 with a victory in the 200-meter event. The following year, she took the top spot in the 400 meter. Coached by Bob Kersee, Joyner made her Olympic debut in 1984, at the Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
There, she won a silver medal for the 200-meter run. A few years later, in 1987, Florence married fellow athlete Al Joyner, the brother of famed athlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee,taking the legal name Florence Delorez Griffith-Joyner, she became publicly known as Florence Joyner, or "Flo Jo," at this time. Around this time, Joyner selected her husband to serve as a coach, dropping Kersee. She had taken a break from competing after the 1984 Olympics and had just decided to re-enter racing. Before long, however, she began training again for the 1988 Olympic Games under Bob Kersee, the husband of Jackie Joyner-Kersee. Joyner's hard work paid off at the 1988 Summer Olympics, held in Seoul, South Korea. She took home three gold medals, in the 4-by-100 meter relay, and the 100- and 200-meter runs; as well as a silver medal in the 4-by-400 meter relay. Florence Joyner was a very creative woman. She was known for her crazy 6 inch nails, form-fitting bodysuits, and amazing speed. Few people really knew it, but Delorez Florence Griffith Joyner, the fabulous FloJo, was a very shy and deeply insecure. Underneath her skin tight running suits and her lavishly manicured nails lived a little girl who was socially awkward and bore the taunts of other children and resolved to show the world that, some day, she would live her dreams. So her creative nails had deep meaning to them and they weren't
just some long nails that were painted purple. Joyner remained involved in athletics in her retirement. She was appointed co-chair of the President's Council on Physical Fitness in 1993 and went on to establish her own foundation for children in need. Nearly six years after the Seoul Olympics, in 1995, Joyner was honored with an induction into the Track and Field Hall of Fame. Around this time, she once again began training for the Olympics. But her comeback effort was curtailed by problems with her right Achilles tendon. Joyner died unexpectedly of an epileptic seizure on September 21, 1998, at her home in Mission Viejo, California. She was only 38 years old at time and was survived by her husband and their daughter, Mary Joyner. Remarkably, more than 30 years later, Joyner still holds the world records in the 100- and 200-meter events, with times of 10.49 seconds and 21.34 seconds, respectively. As you can see, Florence Joyner was not a boring person. In fact, she was an interesting and exciting person. Her death was a very sad day, some might say but she will always be remember. Whether she is remembered by her crazy nails, or fast speed, or even her tight bodysuits, she will always be remembered by “Flo Jo”, the American Olympian. The Joyner legacy still lives. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvOtNW4JRwA http://sports.jrank.http://www.blackpast.org/aaw/joyner-florence-griffith-1959-1998 org/pages/1833/Griffith-Joyner-Florence-Born-Run.html https://myhero.com/F_griffith_joyner_dnhs_US_2011 https://ussporthistory.com/2015/04/20/star-spangled-fingernails-florence-griffith-joyner-and-the-mediation-of-black-femininity/
Fanny “Bobbie” Rosenfeld is the most historically and culturally significant Canadian sport figure. Rosenfeld was a pioneer for women’s athletics, and was a role model to many young girls and working class women. When at a time when women in sport was not considered proper, Fanny broke down barriers, competing in high levels of softball, hockey, and basketball and track. She was a women of firsts, she helped define Canadian women in sport.
Canada’s most famous female all-around athlete in the 1920s was Fanny “Bobbie” Rosenfeld. Baseball, basketball, fastball, golf, hockey,lacrosse, softball, speed skating, tennis, and track and field were some of the sports that Bobbie played and she mastered all of them (“Bobbie Rosenfeld: One of the Greatest All-Around Athletes”). The first event that put Rosenfeld in the spotlight was the 100-metre sprint that she ran, for fun, in a small track and field meet in 1923. During the meet she came first in the race, beating Rosa Grosse, the leading Canadian champion. She beat her again at another meet and made the world record for that event. In the same year she was Toronto’s tennis champion (Rosenberg). Bobbie Rosenfeld continued her career by participating in a provincial track and field competition in 1925. She placed first in discus, shot put, 220-metre dash, low hurdles and long jump. In the 100-metre dash and javelin she came second (Library and Archives Canada). By that time she was the Canadian record holder for the 440-metre relay, standing board jump, discus, javelin and shot put. Rosenfeld’s greatest achievements were in, the first Olympics that allowed women to participate in track and field events, Amsterdam in 1928. She was a member of the Matchless Six, the Canadian women’s track and field team. This team did an outstanding job in the 400-metre relay; as a result they placed first and broke the previous record, becoming national heroes. In addition to the relay Bobbie won the silver medal in the 100-metre dash. The most memorable was the 800-metre race, one that Bobbie had not trained for. During the race she could have finished in third place, however she let her teammate finish before her and as a re...
During the 1940s and 1950s women artists were not always appreciated and seen as polished educated women artist. As an inspiring painter, printmaker and art teacher Florence McClung accomplished many awards in her life time, faced a difficult period of discrimination towards women artist, and faced exclusion by printmaker companies. On the other hand, McClung did not let anything impede her great achievements.
In 1826 Gertrude Ederle swam the English channel two hours faster than all the men who preceded her. In 1967 Kathrine Switzer ran the Boston Marathon disguised as a man, because females were not allowed to run.
Freda Josephine McDonald was born on June 3, 1906 in St. Louis, Missouri. Her father, Eddie Carson, a vaudeville drummer left Josephine’s mother Carrie McDonald soon after her birth. Her mother remarried an unemployed man named Arthur Martin, who was kind. Their family would grow to include a son and two more daughters. Josephine grew up cleaning houses and babysitting for wealthy white families. She got a job waitressing at The Old Chauffeur's Club when she was 13 years old. This is where she met her first husband, she decided to leave home and get married.
Marjorie Stewart Joyner was born on October 24, 1896 in Monterey, Virginia, which was the Blue Ridge Mountain area of the state. She was the granddaughter of both a slave and a slave owner. She was a very strong businesswoman and humanitarian with strong ambition and desires. When she was a teenager, she and her family joined the Great Migration, moving to Chicago, Illinois where so many African-Americans were moving for jobs and a better life. Once she arrived to Chicago, she began to study and pursue a cosmetology career. Marjorie Joyner had a strong message that she carried throughout her lifetime which was: Be proud of who you are and treat yourself as if you care. From this belief, she became an avid supporter of young men and women throughout her life. She attended A.B. Molar Beauty School and became the first African American woman to graduate from the school in 1916. Marjorie made it her mission to become an educator in African American beauty culture. She did that while inspiring many younger African Americans. Marjorie also fought for racial and gender equality during the years of growth for the Black community in Chicago. At the very tender age of twenty she married a man by the name of Robert E. Joyner and opened a beauty salon soon after. Obviously Marjorie Joyner developed an early interest in becoming a cosmetologist so she started a salon in her home. Her mother-in-law was not impressed with the way she did hair and felt that she needed more practice so she suggested that Marjorie study at one of Madame C. J. Walker’s beauty schools. She was a very gracious and generous woman, and even offered to pay the cost for Marjorie to attend the beauty school. Soon after, she was introduced to the very well-known Afric...
Civil rights activist, Daisy Bates was at the core of the school desegregation catastrophe in Little Rock, Arkansas in September 1957. Bates used her position as president of a local Arkansas branch of the NAACP to strategically destroy the segregated school system. Her civil rights work involved changing the policies of the Arkansas Public School System that promoted segregation of school students, which in turn denied equality of educational resources and qualitative instruction to Arkansas’ Negro students. This fight for civil rights for students of color caused a fundamental shift in how the state educated its students both Black and White. Her plan halted the nation to expose the segregation in the Arkansas school district. Bates advocated for Black children to attend public schools that had been segregated arguing that the school system needed to be desegregated. As a result of argument, Bates became the mentor to nine African-American students, who enrolled in
Gertrude Ederle was born in New York City on October 23, 1905. She was one of five children of Henry and Anna Ederle, German immigrants who owned a butcher shop on Manhattan's Upper West Side. From a young age she was passionate about swimming, which she learned at the local public pool and at the New Jersey beach where her family spent summers. As a kid she left school to practice as an athletic swimmer. Later she joined the Women’s Swimming Association. She had her first win at the age of 16, between 1921 and 1925 holding 29 records. Ederle swam at the Olympic Games in Paris, where her freestyle team won three straight medals. In 1925, she began training to swim across live television. Twenty-one miles of water between England and the European mainland. Other men swimmers had already crossed the channel but she was trying to be the first woman to ever achieve the goal.
African Americans entered the world of sports in the early 1900s when the first African American Olympian became a gold medal, Constantin Henriquez de Zubiera. He won a gold medal in rugby (Bosanac). Not only did the early 1900s open the door for African Americans, but women would also begin to infiltrate into sports as well. Women would be allowed to play in the Olympics; however, they were only allowed to play golf, tennis, and croquet. Only 19 women qualifiers made it through to the first Olympics with women participants (Bosanac). Before Althea Gibson, Margaret Ives Abbott was the first to win the singles tournament for tennis, foreshadowing Althea Gibson’s legacy to come (Schwartz). “She also won gold the 1900 Olympic games in golf just like Althea soo...
Contention (Introduction): At the beginning of the 1950's women faced the expectation that they must become a housewife. Towards the end of the 1960’s, women started to believe that
Kelli White was born on April 1, 1977 in Oakland California to parents who were both sprinters. She attended high school in Union City, California and ran track. She was 12 when Remi Korchemny became her coach (Plitt). She would reunite with him after graduating college (Plitt). When Kelli White was 17, she was attacked and cut by a knife. Even though her injury required more than 300 stitches, she continued to run that year (Plitt). When White graduated in 1995, she held the record in the 200 meter dash and had the second best time in the 100 meter dash in the North Coast Section. She went to the University of Tennessee on a scholarship and graduated in 1999 (Plitt).
Clara Bow grew up as an impoverished Brooklyn girl. She struggled with having an abusive father and mentally unstable mother. After finishing up high school she went to Hollywood and signed a contract with Preferred Picture. Clara Bow was featured in a number of silent films and later talkies. She even costarred in the 1927 movie ¨Wings¨ that went on to win the first ever academy award for best picture. The actress was most well known for her starring role in the 1927 movie ¨It¨. The movie was about a young store assistant that falls for the owner of the shop. The whole idea of ¨It¨ in the movie itself was this intangible charisma that a person could obtain. It was the concept that a person could be completely self- confident, have sex appeal
Can you imagine that the fastest woman in the world had trouble walking when she was little? Wilma Rudolph was born in Tennessee on June 23, 1940. At this time in history, blacks were separated from whites in the whole south. They were not allowed to eat in the same restaurant or go to the same school. Wilma Rudolph was born two months early to Blanche and Ed Rudolph (Sherrow 7). Wilma’s mom did laundry and housekeeping, and her dad worked for the railroad. She was so fast when Wilma was in school her coach gave Wilma a nickname, “Skeeter,” because she was always busying around like a mosquito (Sherrow 19). Even though Wilma Rudolph had Polio as a young child, and the doctors said she would not be able to walk, she grew up
Grace Patricia Kelly was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on November 12, 1929. Her mother was Margaret Katherine Majer: 1st coach of the women’s athletic team at the University of Pennsylvania. Her father was John Brendan “Jack” Kelly, a champion sculler who won three Olympic gold medals. Her father was also a self- made millionaire (“Grace Kelly Biography”).
Kyniska was the first woman to breed horses and the first woman to win an Olympic victory. Her horses won the chariot race.