Flo-Jo, the woman that even the fastest living woman Shericka Jackson couldn’t beat

Written by theeaglenews Florence Griffith Joyner is still the fastest woman on earth. (Screengrab)

Before Shericka Jackson, there was Florence Griffith Joyner, still the fastest woman on earth. A bank teller, a fashionista, a supreme athlete, the fastest there ever was. She died young at 38, in her sleep after an epileptic seizure but left an incredible inspiring tale for future stars like Serena Williams.

“The fastest living woman!” The commentator would boom just as Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson blurred along the track, arms pumping, knees kicking, to an incredible time of 21:45 to take gold at the World Athletic Championship. She still would be the second-fastest woman in history. The fastest was the great Florence Griffith Joyner, aka Flo Jo, who lived a fast dreamy life as a runner, a free spirit, an ebullient fashionista who the famous singer Beyonce would nod her respects to, once wearing a ‘flo-jo’ costume, and who died tragically young, in her sleep after an epileptic attack, a death that she had premonitions about for a while. They say it’s better to die young than fade away and Flo Jo unfortunately became its most famous symbolic figure. But boy could she run. Her life is quite a story.