No medal in the race, but gold for Lolo Jones later

BEIJING -– When she failed to make the 2004 Olympic team after being eliminated in the semifinals at the U.S. trials, hurdler Lolo Jones came to a crossroads.

One way would take her toward a job that used her economics degree from LSU, which made more sense financially for a young woman whose family had struggled through poverty.

The other was to continue in track without the help of an apparel sponsor to defray her expenses. Jones, a former prep star in Des Moines, kept running, slowly got better and better, signed a nice deal with Asics and became the fastest hurdler in the world coming into the Olympics.

Less than 20 meters from an Olympic gold medal Tuesday, in a 100-meter high hurdles race she was commanding, Jones literally ran into another frustration.

This time, Jones is looking only at the same path she has been on, hoping it will take her to London for the 2012 Olympics.

"As a hurdler, you don’t normally peak until 28 to 33, and I'm 26,'' Jones said.  "I definitely have another Olympics in me.

"You know, it's the hurdles.  We're supposed to be the toughest ones.  So I'm going to be tough and try again.''

Ironically, what happened may have been a case of Jones getting ahead of herself.

After a slow start, Jones began rolling so well she took an ever-increasing lead but the 33-inch hurdles began coming up on her too fast.  She had lost control of her steps by the time she reached the ninth hurdle and smacked into it with her lead leg.

"I didn't have the best start but in the middle I caught everybody and I was catching my rhythm but everything was going too fast,'' she said.

"It's like when you're racing a car, and you're going as fast as you can, and you hit a curve, and either you crash and burn or you maintain control.  I crashed and burned today.''

The barrier fell.  Jones stumbled but stayed upright as her rivals flew past, leaving her seventh at the finish.

It was then she fell to her knees, clenched her fists in anger as she struggled to comprehend what had happened and finally covered her face with her hands.

"I was shocked.  My mind was numb,'' she said.  "I worked so hard for this, and it disappeared in less than a second.

"All I could think of was just getting back on my two feet and standing strong.''

Jones did that as she passed through the media interview area, talking for several minutes with a large group of reporters, graciously stopping again to speak with a few others who could not get close enough to hear her.

Her eyes were moist, but she made no excuses, had no complaints, simply explained her misfortune by getting to the essence of the event.

"It's the hurdles,'' she repeated.  "If you can't get over all 10, you can't be the champion.''

I disagree.

A champion is the class of the field.

No one in these Olympics has shown any more class than Lolo Jones.

-- Philip Hersh

Top photo: Lolo Jones after stumbling in the women's 100-meter hurdles. Credit: Christophe Simon / AFP / Getty Images

Inset: Lolo Jones as she left the track. Olivier Morin / AFP / Getty Images

Comments

[mike]

I have officiated at Drake and watched this woman mature over the years.Lolo was the class of the field in dealing with the fall. She has won more than GOLD in my heart. She has set a higher standard and if and when she runs she sets a high value on being honest with yourself. This kind of actions , Speaks volumes about her up bringing and personal values. Lolo has shared with youth in Des Moines to set high lofty goals. She met those in her response to defeat.
On the other hand after a decade of watch Pricilia Lopes run at Neb I was elated to see her now get a bronze in the same race. How jumbled is my head and heart for these two great individuals. The resulting glory they now both have shared on the track at Beijing will live for as long as memory serves. Congrats to two class acts demonstrated before millions of viewers.
Mike Williams

[Ethan Q]

In a crass world, all that glitters is gold. But the Olympics were never for the crass world, the world of the ancient Greeks was the Ideal World, to which every four years they dedicated themselves an event dedicated to the best of that Ideal.

Lolo may have failed in her attempt to succeed in the first world, but lays claim to the highest laurels in the second. Not to take away from the achievement of the medal winners, but in her defeat she showed more grace and generosity of spirit than some of the other medal winners. Though there may be no greater salve to her anguish, winning the hearts of her fellow Americans, and Americans via empathy is as great an accomplishment as winning any race.

If we truly lived in a more ideal world, there would also be laurels for grace.

[love lolo!!]

i could not believe what happened to this champ. she truly is a champ her grace is amazing, i admire her.. and this is a well written article! love lolo and love the writer!!!

[Michael Carter]

LOLO STAY STRONG & STAY FOCUSED. YOU HAVE TWO MORE OLYMPICS CHAMPIONSHIPS IN YOU, BY THE GRACE OF GOD.You also have a world record in you! Think 12.19, write it everywhere, embrace it , accept it & believe it. We do!It is coming in 2009 or 2010. Invest wisely & convervatively!

[Kari]

This is one amazing woman -- a role model for everyone.

[Curious George]

She is a class act. She is pretty enough to get on cereal boxes and perhaps she will win in 2012 or perhaps even in 2016.

[Bryant]

Lo Lo clearly was the best female 100m hurdler in BEIJING. I feel so bad for her misfortune and I mean missed fortune. She is a classy attractive lady with great commercial appeal. Winning gold would have put her on top of the world. Still I have to believe the step up in competition on the big stage had something to do with her pressing and making the mistake she made. You could see she was crushed to lose but she kept it together. I think she can come back and I still think she has a tremendous commercial marketing potential. All was not lost in one race.

Winning and losing I am a LoLo fan now.

[T-Square]

Lo Lo's grace after defeat will be remembered for a long time. She's a class act. Better days are coming, Lo Lo!

[MKULTRA]

Class of the field you say ? What with the tongue sticking out of her yap ?
Hubris, tastes yummy, don't it ?

[Allison]

YOUR A CHAMP IN ALL OUR HEART.. YOU GAVE IT YOUR ALL.
YOU THE BEST AND THE BEST IS YET TO COME.
GOOD LUCK AND YOU'LL TAKE THE GOLD IN LONDON..

[Sandy]

Couldn't agree more - actually all of the American athletes, including the gymnastics girls, have been very classy both in victory and defeat, although the same can't be said of some of the coaches and even the NBC commentators, whose repeated complainings and whinings have shown them to be sore losers and publicity-hungry conspiracy theorists.

[crystal m harley]

I can only give Lolo praise and honor to come from her humble beginnings to become an olympic hopefull. She is gold in my eyes and in the eyes of ever other american. She rocks keep up the good work LoLo I never really payed much attention to the Hurdles since Kersey has retired you give me reason to watch in 2012 you go girl keep your eye on the prize. Peace

[Marcelo]

I agree with you, she is the best. I'm glad she is still running.

[Phil]

She definitely showed class by not making excuses. She is still the best (fastest) at her event and going by what she has had to go through to get to this year's Olympics, this little "hiccup" is not going to slow her down any. If anything it will inspire her to do even better (too bad for the other women in her event:).

[Marv Fleming]

Lolo, Hi there, I broken my neck goiing off a cliff in a car. My room mate fell a sleep while driving. But the bright side is I played for the Green Bay Packers for seven years and the Miami Dolphins for six years after that. I played in three championship game and five Super Bowls. Life comes at you in many ways. It seems you have the internal substance to reach the goals you want. God Bless you. Marv

[Samantha]

Wow, this article has a lot of misinformation. For anyone who actually saw the event as opposed to maybe just reading about it knew that:
1. She ended up with the Bronze, therefore the title of this article in incorrect.
2. She told NBC, the first reporter she talked to when finally pulling herdelf off of the track, that she started tightening up that's what caused her to hit the hurdle...hence there was an excuse, but she was happy that she still placed dispite her crash into the second to last hurdle.

Gee Phil, you're making the LAT look bad with all of this false news reporting!

[steve]

Unfortunately,the last person with that much grace was Princess Diana. The world would be a better place with her in politics.
RunLoloRun4Office
Ciao

[Andrew Kantas]

I completely agree, Lolo Jones is the best Hurdler in her field. She undoubtably would have won if not for the collision. She is a pure class act. And I'm sure her future offers her far more than an Olympic gold metal.

[bc68251]

To "samantha"... LoLo did not get the bronze. The medals went to the U.S. - Australia - Canada, in that order. Perhaps you should make sure of your own information, before accusing someone of inaccuracy.

[RBQUINN]

Samantha- you are the "misinformed" one who now "looks bad" - you are referring to a completely different event!

[Patrick Diegan]

The fact that lo lo could taste the gold medal made her response to the loss more amazing. Her poise and class when interviewed immediately after the race shone through. I wish I could say the same about the girl who won. Lo Lo, you may have lost a race, but you won so much more than this, the hearts of millions.

[Mango]

Samantha - YOU need to pay attention because YOU GOT IT ALL WRONG.
1. "She ended up with the Bronze, therefore the title of this article in incorrect." NO- Sanya Richards got Brionze in 400M
2. "She told NBC, the first reporter she talked to when finally pulling herdelf off of the track, that she started tightening" - NO SHE DIDN'T - Sanya told reporter after she took bronze in 400M

"Gee Phil, you're making the LAT look bad with all of this false news reporting!"
GEE SAMANTHA - get your facts straight!!
Posted by: Samantha | August 20, 2008 at 10:47 AM

[Rockse]

Samantha, you are referring to S. Richards is the person who said her leg cramped up. She's the individual who ended up with the Bronze Olympic medal. L. Jones hit the 9th hurdle and UNFORTUNATELY lost her stride. She came in 7th in the 100 meter hurdle race.

[jcronin]

Samantha, as others have stated, you are confused - please get your facts straight before slamming LoLo and the author of the article. LoLo did not win a medal, and she did not make any excuses. Though she was clearly distraught at losing the way she did, she graciously took time to talk to the reporters. I was impressed with her comments, enough so that I did a little research (Wikipedia) and found that she has come a very long way from her childhood. I honestly wish her the best, and I also believe she deserves a Gold Medal class.

[Levi]

I felt so bad for Lo Lo that I almost had to hold back my own tears. I was a former hurdler back in high school and a similar thing happened to me...I never ran the hurdles again. But, I do hope to see that (pretty) face of hers on the track in years to come. After what she's been through, she has more than enough gusto to rise again.