Should athletics world lobby for Women's 100m WR to be corrected to 10.61?

[Socapro]

Florence Griffith-Joyner, Women's 100m World Record Holder @10.49
Should real Women's 100m World Record be 10.61 also set by Flo-Jo?

Putting aside the ongoing speculation about whether or not Flo-Jo was clean as she was never caught or ever failed a drugs test and all athletes are deemed to be innocent until proven guilty for cheating;

Should we ALL lobby for the current Women's 100m record held by Flo-Jo to be corrected from that 10.49 that Flo ran in dubious wind conditions in Indianapolis on 16th July 1988 to the more trustworthy 10.61 that Flo ran at 1988 US Olympic Trials 100m Final in much less dubious legal wind conditions?

After thinking deeply about DentyCracker's post which I saw over on the Caribbean Track & Field Discussion Forum quoted below, I think it is time for the athletics world to lobby for the Women's 100m world record to be corrected to 10.61 as there is no way that any normal female can logically run 10.49 in legal wind conditions without the assistance of performance enhancement drugs.

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Quote from DentyCracker Thu Sep 15, 2016 21:39:
The official wind reading was 0.0

Incidentally, in the adjoining pit, the readings were 4-6 m/s while the races were going on. Clearly a case of a malfunctioning anemometer. Shame on USATF for submitting it and even more shame on IAAF for ratifying it. real WR is 10.61 by Florence in the trials final.
End Quote.

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This post is not in any way meant to tarnish Flo-Jo's reputation as I believe she was indeed one of the fastest female sprinters that ever lived but I doubt very much that that 10.49 she ran in 1988 was with a legal wind.

To me the real Women's 100m WR is the 10.61 also ran by Flo-Jo in 1988 and I believe our current bunch of top female 100m sprinters will all be inspired to go for breaking the Women's 100m world record as being achievable if it is corrected to 10.61.


TTO's Michelle-Lee Ahye competes against JA's Thompson at Rio 2016 Olympics

There is no way on earth that any female athlete can break 10.49 in legal wind conditions but 10.61 is definitely achievable in legal conditions by the likes of ET, SAFP, MLA and one or two of the current crop of top female sprinters at their very best in the right competitive conditions.

I think the athletics world should lobby for the 10.49 by Flo-Jo to be scratched from the record books in favour of the less controversial 10.61 she ran in the Final at the 1988 US Olympic Trials in legal conditions.


TTO's Michelle-Lee Ahye has ambitions of running 10.6 times in the 100m;
Ahye launched her King Lee 10.6 t-shirt line before Rio to promote her goal.

Correcting the Women's 100m WR to 10.61 will also lead to more excitement when the top women compete at major championships as breaking the Women's 100m WR will now become a possibility in legal conditions rather than an impossible dream as it currently is.

The current situation of the official Women's 100m world record being 10.49 is a major injustice to female sprinters everywhere and has been ever since it was ratified and accepted by the IAAF back in 1988.

What do you guys think?
Should we all (in the athletics world) lobby to get the Women's 100m WR record revised to 10.61?
I see no reason for the Americans to object as the 10.61 will also be held by Flo-Jo an American and the next fastest time after that is the 10.62 Olympic record that Flo-Jo also set in 1988 at the Olympics in Seoul.

It will be nice to also get Ato's view on this as his views as a reputable track and field analyst and broadcaster tends to be taken seriously by most folks in the athletics world.

[ffisback]

King Lee???

[Socapro]

King Lee???

You are late, MLA has been using that nickname on her facebook page for over a year now.

See link: https://www.facebook.com/msahye

[Socapro]

Here is an excerpt from a Brunel University's study on wind readings that also covers Flo-Jo's dubious 10.49 world record.

http://people.brunel.ac.uk/~spstnpl/BiomechanicsAthletics/WindAssistance.htm

Excerpt:
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Flojo's 100m World Record (10.49 sec)

An unexpected outcome of the work on wind assistance was the discovery that Florence Griffith-Joyners' 100m world record was an illegal (wind-assisted) performance. Flojo recorded 10.49 seconds in the quarterfinals at the 1988 US Olympic Trials. This performance broke the existing world record by 0.27 seconds, and no other sprinter has come anywhere near the mark since. However, the official wind reading was considered 'highly suspect' by those who witnessed the race. The September 1988 issue of Track & Field News had a column titled "Everyone Knows it's Windy", which included the comment: " It's hard to say which number caused the bigger gasp at the Trials, Florence Griffith Joyners' 10.49 at the finish-line time indicator, or the 0.0 which popped up on the mid-straight wind board".

The doubts about the official wind reading (0.0) were confirmed by my study of the 100m races at the Trials.   Plots of race time versus wind reading were examined for deviations from the expected relation. The wind reading for Flojo's 10.49 race was clearly anomalous. For all competitors in this race (not just Flojo), the race time indicated that the wind reading should have been between +5.0 and +7.0 m/s. The 10.49 performance was definitely wind-assisted. The real world record should be the 10.61 performance that Flojo set in the final at the 1988 US Olympic Trials.

Unfortunately, the IAAF has not yet corrected the world record list. The April 1994 issue of Track & Field News had a column in support of the findings, and since 1997 the International Athletics Annual of the Association of Track and Field Statisticians has listed Florence Griffith-Joyner's 10.49 performance as "probably strongly wind assisted, but recognised as a world record". In the 2003 edition of  IAAF World Records, Richard Hymans concludes "this is a world record which should not have been ratified".

Note: Many of those involved in running the 1988 US Olympic Trials were opposed to the 10.49 performance being submitted to the IAAF. However, the relevant paperwork was signed and the performance was ratified as a world record. It seems that common sense 'took a holiday' at this track meet.

To find out more about Flojo's 100-m world record, see:
Linthorne, N.P. (1994). Was Flojo's 100-m world record wind-assisted? Track Technique, 127, 4052-4053; 4057. (PDF)
Linthorne, N.P. (1995). "The 100-m world record by Florence Griffith-Joyner at the 1988 US Olympic Trials". Report for the International Amateur Athletic Federation, June 1995. (62 pages) (PDF)

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The studies about the wind reading during Flo-Jo's 10.49 world record race indicate that the wind reading was between 5.0 and +7.0 m/s which is well over the 2.0 m/s legal limit. This wind assisted 10.49 world record needs to be removed from the record books as it is grossly unjust to top female sprinters everywhere.

[Socapro]

Below is video of Flo-Jo's 10.49 World Record race at the US Trials in 1988.
Notice how the commentator stated that it was wind-aided right after the race before he was surprised to hear that the wind gauge read 0.0 m/s. The fact that the wind-gauge read a perfect 0.0 m/s in those clearly windy conditions is a big give away that it malfunctioned and it is a travesty that the 10.49 time was still submitted as legal by the USATF and was ratified by the IAAF. 

FLO JO 100m WR AT US OLYMPICS TRIALS IN 1988
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/04WP3sWetm0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/04WP3sWetm0</a>

[Socapro]

Merlene Ottey Questions Flo Jo 100m World Record, says that there was at least a 5 m/s tailwind during that race and so that false 10.49 world record should never been allowed into the record books.


Merlene Ottey Questions Flo Jo 100m World Record
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/ad-tl-UBAgU" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/ad-tl-UBAgU</a>

[A.B.]

I wasn't there, and in fact didn't start to pay attention to track and field seriously until the 1991 world championships, but everyone I have ever talked to, who was in Indianapolis that afternoon, said that race was wind-aided. I'll tell you why I'm inclined to believe it.

If the wind reading was 1.9 or .9 or even .5, I might say 'ok, wind died down'. I've been to that track since, and I am sure there has never been a 0.0. The gauge broke, or malfunctioned. The jump wind-readings at the same time of that race are your smoking gun.

I say this reluctantly, since Flo-Jo was a friend and a UCLA Bruin.

[Socapro]

I wasn't there, and in fact didn't start to pay attention to track and field seriously until the 1991 world championships, but everyone I have ever talked to, who was in Indianapolis that afternoon, said that race was wind-aided. I'll tell you why I'm inclined to believe it.

If the wind reading was 1.9 or .9 or even .5, I might say 'ok, wind died down'. I've been to that track since, and I am sure there has never been a 0.0. The gauge broke, or malfunctioned. The jump wind-readings at the same time of that race are your smoking gun.

I say this reluctantly, since Flo-Jo was a friend and a UCLA Bruin.

Thanks for your opinion, I am pleased that we both agree on this one.

I think that 10.49 time is unjust to all female sprinters who may have ambitions of breaking the 100m world record and should be revised to 10.61 asap.

It would be great to see the IAAF pressured to revise it to 10.61 in time for the World Champions in London next year.