@tabbycatstripy
unfortunately, although there is no evidence it appears almost certain that Joyner was a cheat. The Seoul Olympics were a fairly grubby affair as far as drug cheating went, the Canadian who came first in the mens 100m, Ben Johnson, was stripped of his medal, and Carl Lewis, who was then elevated to gold later admitted and was quite defiant about taking drugs - although there is no evidence he cheated in Seoul. The boundaries were a lot more fluid then.
I think it is widely believed and quietly accepted that Joyner did take drugs, although she was never found to have done so, in retrospect her very early death is often cited as the result of heart failure from steroid abuse, and the fact that even today, despite 30 years of huge advances in training techniques, conditioning, nutrition, shoe design, track surfaces etc her record has been pretty unreachable by other female athletes is also seen as questionable. Such a shame, she was an amazing character off and on the track and was undoubtably a phenomenal runner.
She stands as a prescient warning though, if women’s records and sporting achievements mean anything they have to be achieved by women who are competing drug free, not by women who are taking drugs, and even more importantly not by men. Otherwise they are meaningless. Records are like pie crust, made to be broken, and women’s records need to be both achieved, and then broken, by women..