Olympic sprint champion Florence Griffith Joyner died after suffering an epileptic seizure, according to autopsy results released Thursday, and her family and friends say they hope the findings will put to rest rumors that drug use contributed to her death. Griffith Joyner died last month in her sleep at age 38.

Her husband, Al Joyner, bitterly criticized those who suggested that she took performance-enhancing drugs.

"My wife took the final, ultimate drug test," Joyner said, choking back tears during a brief news conference after the release of the autopsy. "And it's what we always said: There's nothing there. So please, please, give us time to grieve and just let my wife rest in peace."

The Orange County Sheriff-Coroner's office found that …show more content…
Richard I. Fukumoto, the county's chief forensic pathologist. Such seizures rarely lead to death, medical experts noted. In Griffith Joyner's case, the seizure apparently caused her to be suffocated by her bedding.

For the Record
Los Angeles Times Tuesday October 27, 1998 Home Edition Sports Part D Page 2 Sports Desk 2 inches; 52 words Type of Material: Correction
Olympics--Florence Griffith Joyner, who died last month, was one of two women to have won four medals in track and field in the same Olympics. Fanny Blankers-Koen of Holland won the 100- and 200-meter sprints, the 80-meter hurdles and anchored the victorious 400 relay team in the 1948 Olympics in London. Griffith Joyner was identified as the only four-medal winner Friday.

Griffith Joyner was one of 25% of the population to have a congenital weakness of a blood vessel in the brain, called cavernous angioma, said Dr. Barbara Zaias, a forensic neuropathologist with the coroner's office. She said 10% to 15% of those people suffer from seizures.

In most instances, though, the condition doesn't cause problems, and many people live their lives unaware of it. Other times it may cause headaches, bleeding or seizures, Zaias