Lolo Jones: Example of Olympic Dreams Deferred

Everyone experiences setbacks. Most of us have the luxury of privacy during our defeat. Not so for those whose success leads them to the center of the spotlight.

Her birth name, Lori Jones, may not ring a bell. But, Lolo, as she’s been called for as long as she can remember, has more Twitter followers than any other United States track and field athlete.

The American record holder in the 60-meter indoor hurdles, Jones makes the event look easy. The bigger hurdles for Lolo have come away from the track.

Jones overcame a childhood that found her constantly on the move.  While her mother worked two jobs at times to support her family, Lolo once attended eight schools in eight years. When Lolo was in third grade, her family lived in the basement of a Salvation Army church to provide shelter, and food on the table was never a guarantee. Her childhood would only mark the beginning of the hurdles she would face.

Exactly one year before the 2012 Olympic hurdle finals, Jones had spinal surgery to correct a tethered spine, a condition believed to be responsible for some of her injury history.

Jones is an 11-time NCAA Champion. She’s also the only woman ever to win back-to-back World Indoor Titles in the 60-meter hurdles.  Coming into the 2008 Olympic games, Jones was the favorite to win the gold. She was the fastest qualifier and found herself in lane 4 in the finals just 10 hurdles and 100 meters away from the biggest achievement in track. It was the ninth hurdle that cost Jones the gold. She was charging ahead of the pack when she caught the ninth hurdle and fell back to finish seventh.

Just days after her thirtieth birthday, Jones had another shot at Olympic gold. Unfortunately, the stars did not align for Lolo Jones exactly a year after spinal surgery. She finished in fourth place. No medal, but plenty of time to review what might have been. With all she went through to get to London, her dream of Olympic gold has still not come true.