The flamboyant but fast Florence Griffith-Joyner dominated women's sprinting like no women has done before. She set an amazing world record of 10.49 in the 100 meter dash in the U.S Olympic trials, improving the old mark by 0.27 of a second. In Seoul she set an Olympic record for the 100 meter dash and won the final by 2.5 meters. Griffith-Joyner then twice improved the 200 meter dash world mark for a total improvement of 0.37 seconds, winning the final by 3.5 meters, with a time of 21.34 seconds. She added a third gold to her collection in the 4x100m relay and 40 minutes later ran her first international 4x400m of her life leading the U.S to a silver medal. Known for her flashy running outfits, Grifith-Joyner has taken up a second career as a sport's wear designer. Her work includes the design of the NBA Indiana Pacers uniforms.

	Kristin Otto of East Germany won six gold medals, the most gold medals ever won by a female athlete in the history of the Olympic Games. Otto also has the distinction of being the only swimmer ever to win gold medals in three different swimming styles, winning individual medals in the 100m backstroke, 100m butterfly and 50m and 100m freestyle.

American Greg Louganis, a vision of elegance and precision and widely considered the greatest diver of all times, cracked his head on the springboard during the qualifying round of the springboard event. Nevertheless, he bravely returned to the divingboard to qualify for the finals. Louganis recovered and repeated his 1984 gold medal victories in both the springboard and platform diving competitions.