cover story
Lolo Jones
TRAVELS IN THE FAST LANE
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By Patricia Danflous
urdles and bobsleds go together like ice cream and jalapeños. The combination may be inconceivable to some but appealing to others. Ask Lolo Jones. The Olympic athlete moves quite comfortably between hurdling and bobsledding. One of the few female athletes to compete in both the Winter and Summer Olympics, she’s earned a reputation as a fierce competitor, a faith-based woman and an expert in balancing life’s challenges and pleasures. Jones is also recognized as one of the most attractive athletes to hit the track or the ice. Her athletic achievements, creamy skin, fit physique and charming personality make her ideal for product endorsements and sponsorships with brands like Asics. Although an Olympic medal has yet to come her way, the 33-year-old is one of the fastest women in the world. She owns World Championships in hurdle and bobsledding events and an impressive NCAA record. A two-time World Champion in the 60-meter hurdles, she came in fourth place in the 2012 Olympics and seventh place in the 2008 Olympics in 100-meter hurdles. She finished 11th in the 2014 Winter Olympics in bobsledding following the 2013 gold medals at the World Championship. “Maybe there’s a little girl who thinks
she can be an Olympic athlete, and she sees all the things I struggled through to get there,” Jones says. “Yeah, I didn’t walk away with a medal or run away with a medal, but I think there's lessons to be learned when you win and lessons to be learned when you lose.” While her achievements and enthusiastic outlook position her as the girl with everything going for her, Jones knows what it is like to come from behind to cross life’s finishing line. Her fourth-place win in the 2012 Olympics, for example, came a year after spinal surgery. It’s her formative years, however, that may have given her the competitive edge. The Iowa native grew up as one of five children raised by a single mother. Growing up poor, she moved frequently with her family, living in a church basement for a time, and changing schools each year until high school. She pursued her love of track at Theodore Roosevelt High School in Des Moines, Iowa, and made the difficult decision to live with four “surrogate” families throughout high school so that she could participate in athletics. “Running was like the friend that never left. It was just always there,” she says. Her sacrifices paid off: She won the Gatorade Iowa Track and Field Athlete of the Year and Gatorade Midwest Athlete of the Year awards, beginning her journey toward recognition in the field. continued on page 26
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