Griffith-Joyner Leaves Kersee’s Club; She’ll Be Coached Solely by Husband

Florence Griffith-Joyner, world record-holder in the women’s 100 meters and American record-holder in the 200 meters, no longer will be coached by Bob Kersee of the World Class Athletic Club, her business manager said Thursday.

Gordon Baskin, also a business adviser to hurdler Edwin Moses, said Griffith-Joyner will move from her training base at UCLA to UC Irvine, where she will be coached by her husband, Al Joyner, the triple jump gold medalist in the 1984 Olympic Games.

“It was evolutionary,” Baskin said of Griffith-Joyner’s decision to leave Kersee. “She realized that Bobby has many athletes to look after and felt she needed more direct personal attention.”

Kersee, who is married to Al Joyner’s sister--world heptathlon record-holder Jackie Joyner-Kersee--has coached Griffith-Joyner for much of the last eight years, including one year at Cal State Northridge and three years at UCLA.

She left the World Class AC in 1986 to coach herself but returned a year later to prepare for the 1987 World Championships in Rome, where she won a silver medal in the 200 meters. She also was a silver medalist in the 200 meters at the 1984 Olympics.

In preparation for the recent Olympic track and field trials in Indianapolis, Griffith-Joyner, 28, was coached three days a week by her husband and two days a week by Kersee, Baskin said.

In the trials, Griffith-Joyner, 28, broke the world record in the 100, in 10.49 seconds, and the American record in the 200, in 21.77.