Joyner was born in East St. Louis, Illinois. His sister Jackie Joyner-Kersee is also an Olympic gold medalist. He was married to the late Florence Griffith-Joyner, a multiple Olympic medal-winning sprinter; their daughter is Mary Ruth Joyner. Joyner married for a second time on June 28, 2003 to Alisha Biehn. They have two children, Skylar Rose and Jayden Alfredrick.
Joyner competed in the triple jump at Arkansas State University and earned the nickname "Sweetwater."
In 1984, Joyner traveled to Los Angeles for the Summer Olympics to compete in triple jump for the U.S. Olympic track and field team. With a leap of 17.26 m (56'-7.5"), he became the first American in 80 years to win a gold medal in this event. Al was also honored with the 1984 Jim Thorpe Award, given annually to the top American male in the field events.
On August 18, 2000, he joined the UCLA track and field staff to coach the Bruin women's jumps. Along with his coaching activities, Joyner also directs the Flo Jo Community Empowerment Foundation and Final Kick Marketing Group. He is a member of the Arkansas State (1993), State of Illinois (1997), and State of Arkansas (1999) Sports Halls of Fame.
In February 2010, Sean James and Joyner appeared in a Planned Parenthood anticipatory response message to a controversial Focus on the Family Super Bowl commercial starring Tim Tebow and his mother celebrating his mother's choice to bring her son to full term in spite of a life threatening illness.
In 2012, daughter Mary auditioned for, and moved on to the Las Vegas rounds of, the television show America's Got Talent as a singer.
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