Lolo Jones has officially scratched from this year's Olympic Trials due to injury, but this is not the end of her hurdling career. As always, Lolo is persistent in fighting for her dreams. If she says she'll be back, then we should believe her, and if you don't know her story, here's why.
Now living in L.A. California, but originally from Iowa, Lori "Lolo" Jones is a three time NCAA champion at LSU (Class of 2004) in the 100 meter hurdles, earning NCAA All American 11 times. She is also a three-time USA Indoor Champion of 60 meter hurdles and a two time world indoor 60 meter hurdle champion, which made her the first woman to claim back-to-back championships (2008-2010). During her 2010 Indoor World Championships she also claimed the American Indoor 60m hurdle record with a time of 7.72, her PR.
Going into the 2008 Beijing Olympics, she was the favorite to win the gold, placing first at the Olympic trials with a wind-assisted (+3.8) time of 12.29 (which is not considered her PR because of the windy conditions, but is the fastest she has ever run in the event, close to the World Record of 12.21). Then, in the preliminaries, she ran 12.43, the fastest time since the Olympic record was set. However, as she lead the race in Beijing, she tripped over the second to last hurdle and instead finished seventh, while her teammate, Dawn Harper, got the gold with a time of 12.54. It was a small mistake to make under so much pressure, but in such a short race, it cost her precious time, and a gold medal.
Shaken, but never taken down, Lolo starts training again for the London 2012 Olympics. Unfortunately, due to many injuries and setbacks, she struggled to get back to her personal best, while others rose to it and raised the bar for earning the gold. In the finals, she ran a clean race, but finished fourth, just shy of a medal, with Pearson claiming the gold in front of Dawn Harper as well.
As Lolo turns 34 on August 5th, 2016, the day of the opening ceremonies in Rio, time seemed to be running out for her, and her injuries did not end. Instead of waiting for Rio, she became one of only 10 Americans to compete in the Summer and Winter games, as she qualified to be on the USA Bobsled team as a brakeman- she finished 11th in the Sochi games, partnered with Jazmine Fenlator.
With a spinal surgery in 2011, a torn shoulder labrum in 2014 that she soon decided to have surgery on in 2015, and another surgery for her torn hip labrum last November ( as well as two hamstring tears during the 2015 season), Lolo Jones could barely compete, although she did qualify for Olympic trials with a time of 12.65. Instead, she chose to let her injuries heal, scratching from the qualifiers. In her announcement on Instagram, you might want to notice her caption, "see you in 2020 homies... #illbeback."
"I may have not shown you over the course of my career how to win an Olympic Gold medal, but I hope that my journey has shown you how to get back up when you get knocked down, how to try again when you feel like you've already tried so many times... and I want to finish this race strong, whatever that race is..."- Lolo
We support you Lolo! Do what you love, keep on running and finish what you started.
FOLLOW THE LINK TO HER INSTAGRAM VIDEO HERE:
