Detractors often grumbled that Florence Griffith Joyner must have used steroids or other drug aids to make her the world's fastest woman. But she passed every drug test, including her last one.
Orange County coroner's experts said Thursday that Griffith Joyner was stricken with a seizure as she slept Sept. 21 and suffocated, probably because it wrenched her head to the right, cutting off her air as she slept on her stomach.Judging from the position of the body, pillows and blankets probably also hampered breathing, said Dr. Richard Fukumoto, chief of forensics for the Orange County sheriff and coroner.
She wasn't breathing when Al Joyner, her husband and Olympic triple-jump gold medalist, found her in bed at their Mission Viejo home.
On Thursday, fighting back tears, Joyner said his wife had taken "the final, ultimate drug test. And it's what we always said: `It's nothing there.' So please, please, give us time to grieve and just let my wife rest in peace."
Toxicology tests showed that she took a normal dose of over-the-counter headache medication some hours earlier, said Lt. Frank Fitzpatrick, head of forensic sciences for the sheriff's office.
Dr. Barbara Zaias, who took part in the post-mortem investigation, said the seizure was probably triggered by a brain lesion known as a cavernous angioma, a congenital abnormality she might have been born with.
The abnormality has never been associated in medical research with steroids or any other drugs, Fukumoto said. It may develop right along with the brain of a fetus, Zaias said.
"We now hope that this great Olympic champion, wife and mother can rest in peace, and that her millions of admirers around the world will celebrate her legacy to sport and children every day," U.S. Olympic Committee president Bill Hybl said. "It is time for the whispers and dark allegations to cease."