Florence Griffith-Joyner's record is shaky

I know. Football is being played again. This simply means that everything else in sports becomes a minor matter. The Paralympics, for example, which are being held in Tokyo, are a marginal event, especially since fear of Corona is the dominant topic in Japan. The number of infections is skyrocketing and the hospitals are already overloaded. It's a risk. But as I said: minor matter.

The ball is rolling. There is also a European Volleyball Championship taking place right now but we still have time. This lasts until September 4th. And there's also pedaling, and it's hard at the Vuelta in Spain. Cycling tours are difficult because the bike itself is praised everywhere as a future-oriented means of transport. More and more cycle paths are winding along the car roads, which are then used by racing cyclists because, in their eyes, special cycle paths are only built for slow cyclists. A real racing cyclist, on the other hand, still prefers to risk life and limb and is extremely happy to be overtaken by cars and pushed to the side. But well, the participants in the Vuelta have free travel like everyone who takes part in organized events.

The evil individual traffic is then quickly slowed down. The BMX World Championships just took place in the Netherlands. Grown people on wheels that are far too small race around an artificial course. It's cute to watch and spectators come because there are also spectacular falls. Walk in. Spectacle guaranteed. And the so-called core sport, athletics? Oh yes, she's still alive too. Somehow it hovers on the sidelines of the activities and so many people miss the fact that wonderful things are happening here. Fabulous times are doing the rounds that are hard to believe. A record that seemed made to last forever 33 years ago, Florence Griffith-Joyner ran 10.49 seconds at the US track and field finals in Indianapolis for the Seoul Olympics. The first diva of track and field, as she liked to be called, had set a record that seemed to be made for eternity. Of course, doping allegations accompanied this magical number. There was never a positive test, although tests outside of competitions were only organized after 1988. Griffith-Joyner had already withdrawn. She died at the age of 38 and her death was often linked to the use of performance-enhancing drugs. There was never any proof of this. Now her name is back in the conversation because a Jamaican achieved an almost incredible feat at the Diamond League meeting in Eugene (USA). Elaine Thompson-Herah, the three-time Olympic champion in Tokyo, who also won gold twice in Rio de Janeiro five years ago, touched the world record with her time of 10.54 seconds. It is the second fastest time ever for women in the 100 meters. Sure, it's not a shot on goal, but it's almost a milestone in athletics. Florence Griffith-Joyner was the first diva of athletics. © APA

It was never, ever thought possible that anyone could even come close to Griffith-Joyner's record. And now this bang, which is equivalent to the world records in the 400m hurdles at the Olympic Games for both women and men. It's almost as if you want to demonstrate that eternity is just a period of time. The enormity of the recent performance increases inevitably raises doubts. When, I often ask myself these days, were the athletes who are currently shifting dimensions last subjected to a doping test? Why is there no ID card for this, a public presentation of the test results and the number of tests? So why are we, the consumers of these phenomenal achievements, allowed to be the astonished onlookers of almost unbelievable achievements, why are we allowing doubts instead of dispelling them with a swipe? It only leads to the conclusion that things are probably not going well after all. And not just in athletics, but across the board.

Perhaps that is the strength of football, that the simplicity of a successful shot on goal is not questioned, that supposed doping practices in football are relegated to the realm of fable, which many may believe. But there is no discussion about it. Goals, tactics, celebrations. Everyone understands that. But 10.54 seconds in the 100m run by a woman from Jamaica poses a challenge to understanding human performance. And we are probably far from having reached the end of all record hunts. The Paralympics will also be the subject of heated debate again because the diversity of disabilities and the technical use of prostheses do not allow for equal opportunities. And because here too, records are accompanied by doubts.

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Florence Griffith-Joyner's record is shaky

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