Claire Lehmann caused a stir on black twitter by saying that Shacarri Richardson, and Florence Griffith Joyner used steroids. She used strong hair, and nails as evidence, and a little more than that with Richardson's, association with former steroid user Dennis Mitchell. The nail, and hair argument are really strange. Richardsons nails are probably fake, and her hair definently is.
When it comes to Richardson there isn't great evidence of her steroid use. She could be on steroids. She an elite runner, and her 10.72 is one of the fastest 100 meters ever for a woman. Still what she has done could be done naturally. When it comes to Flo Jo, though, the evidence of her steroid use has been evident, and generally accepted among track, and field fans for years.
Before 1988 Griffith Joyner was a good runner, but not special. She was better in the 200 than the 100, and even won a silver medal in the 200 meters in the 1984 Olympics. In the 100 she consistently ran around 11 seconds when she was at her best, and she had a career best of 10.96 going into 1988. In the 200 meters she was usually running around 22 seconds at her best.
Things changed in 1988. Her look changed. Take a look at her before 1987, and you will see a woman that looked very feminine compared to how she looked in 1988, or even late 87'. By 88' she gained quite a bit of muscle, she got more ripped. Gone was the more natural looking physique that she had at her first Olympics. Flo Jo had become ripped. You could see the drastic difference in her legs, and arms. She also got some noticable facial hair. Calling her facial hair a five o'clock shadow might be a bit of an exaggeration, but it was a noticable amount of hair that she struggled to cover with makeup. Her facial structure also changed, as her jaw line became sharper, and more pronounced. To go along with that, her voice got deeper.
Then there are the changes to her performance. Going into the year her best time in the 200 was 21.96 from late 1987 in World Championships. Before 1987 her best time was 22.04. She beat that time 5 times in 1988. In the Olympic semifinals she broke the world record by running a 21.56, and in the Olympic finals she destroyed that record with a 21.34. Before her the record belonged the Heiki Dreshsler, an East German Woman, that admitted to using steroids, though she said that she didn't do it knowingly. Even with East German women, notorious for steroid use, weren't close to what Flo Jo was.
Her biggest advancement was in the 100 meters. Like in the 200 meters she became unstoppable. Her world record of 10.49 had a controversial wind reading, and it's accepted that it was windy, and that 0.0 m/s(meter per second) wind reading for the race was a malfunction. Even when you consider that, her 10.49 was still very impressive. Going into the year her best time was 10.96, and adjusting for wind, and altitude her best race was 11.06 into a nice headwind, which adjusted equal 10.93. In 1988 she beat that out 8 times. Those races include the controversial 10.49 at the Olympics trials, which if I estimate a 5.2 m/s wind like the wind reading for the 9.78 that Carl Lewis ran the same day, still comes out the an adjusted 10.72. 3 of her other wind aided races were also better, adjusting for wind, than her previous best entering the year. Those are a 10.60 at those same trials with a 3.2 m/s tailwind, a 10.70 in the Olympic semifinals with a 2.6 tailwind, and Olympic winning 10.54 with a 3.0 m/s tailwind. She had 4 wind legal times which were more impressive than the best she previously did, and 3 that were clearly better. There was the 10.89 she ran in San Diego, a 10.70 in the semifinals of the Olympics trials, her "real world record" of 10.61 in the finals of the trials, and a 10.62 in the Olympics quarterfinals. That means that in 8 of the 12 races she had in 100 that year, she was better adjusting for wind, and altitude, than she ever was before. It's similar in the 200 meters. It wasn't just that she was better than she was before, it was how much better she was, and how consistenly she was better. This wasn't a one race aberation. She went undefeated in both the 100, and 200 meters in 1988. Now there are difference adjustments made for wind and altitude, and my numbers come from here Wind/Altitude correction in the 100m sprint (lmu.build). You can get slightly different numbers from here Wind Calculator (maximmoinat.github.io). It's just a wind calculator but since neither her best races before, or any of her 1988 races were run at high altitude, that not an issue. Whatever the data, she was obviously a much better runner in 1988 than she was prior.
Joyner went through drastic changes in her physcial appearance, and her perfomance in 1988. This happened in her late 20's, as she was 28, so this isn't some young athlete going through natural maturation. Sprinters aren't supposed to get drastically better at that age. The timing of her retirement was also suspicious. After Ben Johnson's positive test for steroids in 88', there was a lot of attention arounds steroids in Track, and Field, and her abrupt retirement lead some to believe that she was avoiding more stringent test.
Her death in 1997, which was caused by an epelictic seizure, doesn't need to be factored in a evidence. The evidence from her change in look, and performance from 1988 are strong enough indicators.
Flo Jo's IAAF profile, where you can see all of her career results
Florence GRIFFITH-JOYNER | Profile (worldathletics.org)
\
