The oft-hyped US track star Lolo Jones has yet to live up to expectations on the international stage of the Olympics in 2008 and 2012.
#TeamBlaria, it has not been a good week for Lolo Jones. First, the New York Times published a scathing article from Jeré Longman entitled For Lolo Jones, Everything Is Image a mere three days before she was set to race in the 100M hurdles. Then, yesterday in the 100M hurdle finals, she failed to medal for the second straight Olympics, and finally, she cried during her Today interview this morning, which turned her appearance into a pool of sadness like it was a scene from the Rhianna/Eminem video Love the Way You Lie:
Yep, not a good week for the US media’s track and field star. So I can’t blame her for tearing up. She lost again, which only confirms many people’s criticism of her. And seeing her cry sure is a bummer. But can I be honest and objective for a second? Despite some of the vitriol displayed in the ill-timed NYT article and there was plenty, isn’t it in fact true that Jones is hands down the most famous and popular track and field star when she has, frankly, not delivered on the big stage when it counted? Furthermore, isn’t the amount of media coverage – Time Magazine, the Today, and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, to name a few - insanely disproportionate to what she has achieved thus far in her career? Now, this isn’t me sipping on Haterade, rather like Uma Thurman in Kill Bill Vol. 2 when she got shot in the leg with truth serum, I simply have to be honest and state the facts even though I have love for Lolo.
