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Here's a German article I just found:

Lange Zeit war Hürdensprinterin Lolo Jones nur eines von vielen hübschen Gesichtern in der Leichtathletik-Welt. Doch damit ist jetzt Schluss! Seit kurzem weiß die US-Amerikanerin, wie es sich anfühlt, wenn aus anderen Gründen zu einem aufgeblickt wird und man Respekt bekommt für das, was man auf der Laufbahn geleistet hat.

Fest macht das die 25-Jährige, die im Internet als „Hottie“ und „Sexy Hurdler“ gelistet ist, auf YouTube in Deutsch trällert und sich über die eigene Homepage runlolorun.com in Szene setzt, insbesondere an einer Begegnung mit dem US-Basketballstar Michael Jordan bei einem jüngsten Sponsorentermin in Florida.

„Bei der Veranstaltung waren viele Promis. Michael Jordan war von seinem PR-Leuten und Bodyguards abgeschirmt. Deshalb hatte es eine Weile gedauert, bis ich mit ihm sprechen konnte. Als ich ihm als Weltmeisterin vorgestellt wurde, war er sehr höflich und hat mich mit einem starken Händedruck begrüßt“, berichtet sie.

„Gold, wie cool ist das denn?“

Nun wird Lolo Jones, die gerne vor dem Fernseher sitzt oder Videogames spielt, wohl noch mehr Hände schütteln müssen, neue Türen werden sich öffnen. Davon konnte sie früher nur träumen. Nun aber soll ihr Hallen-Weltmeistertitel, mit dem sie am 8. März ihre tolle Indoorsaison krönte („Meine erste Medaille ist Gold, wie cool ist das denn?“), das Sprungbrett zu weiteren Erfolgen sein. Denn gerade davon hatte die in Baton Rouge (USA) lebende Athletin bislang zu wenig.

Seit drei Jahren ist sie als Profi im internationalen Hürdenwald unterwegs. Es war keine leichte Zeit, nachdem man ihre Karriere mit dem Verpassen der Olympia-Qualifikation vor vier Jahren zwischenzeitlich schon mit einem ganz dicken Fragezeichen versehen musste. Lolo Jones war für eine Weile am Boden, wusste kaum, wovon sie leben sollte. Sie musste sich hocharbeiten, ihr Leben über den Sport wieder in den Griff bekommen.

Von der Garnierung zum Hauptgericht

Es gelang. Trotzdem war sie in der Leichtathletik eine ganze Weile nur eine unter vielen, mehr Garnierung als Hauptgericht. Erst im letzten Jahr schaffte sie es schließlich bei den US-Meisterschaften auf das Treppchen und damit zur Qualifikation für die WM in Osaka (Japan), wo sie als Sechste ihre Möglichkeiten andeutete und sich achtbar schlug.

Ihr bislang bestes Jahr war allerdings schon 2006, als sie ihre Bestzeiten auf den flachen 100 Metern (11,24 sec) ebenso verbesserte wie den immer noch gültigen Hausrekord auf ihrer Paradestrecke, den 100 Meter Hürden (12,56 sec).

Sieg in Demut

An diese Leistungen gilt es nun gerade in diesem Olympiajahr anzuschließen. Die zurückliegende Hallensaison, in der sie ihre Bestzeit auf den 60 Meter Hürden auf 7,77 Sekunden steigerte, sollte Lolo Jones Selbstvertrauen geben, doch die nun mit Gold gekrönte Athletin bremst die Euphorie: „Susanna Kallur hatte sich in Valencia verletzt. Von den beiden Kanadierinnen war eine krank, die andere ist gestürzt. Michelle Perry und Virginia Powell waren nicht dabei. Es war ein Sieg in Demut.“

amit weiß sich das hübsche US-Girl, das in ihrer Familie nicht nur (afro-)amerikanische, sondern auch französische und norwegische Wurzeln findet, im Konzert der Besten realistisch einzuordnen.

Ungewohntes Medieninteresse

Aber doch konnte sie nun nach dem Erfolg in Spanien schon einmal den Ruhm einer Weltmeisterin in vollen Zügen genießen. „Ich war schon ein wenig überrascht von dem Interesse nach dem Hallen-WM-Titel. Ich war ausgebucht mit Interviews für Magazine. Ich weiß nicht genau, warum sie so interessiert an mir sind.“

Doch die Kombination aus einem attraktiven Äußeren und einem jungen Erfolg, der eben doch sexy macht, kann Lolo Jones gerade im Olympiajahr, in dem in den USA wieder mehr Aufmerksamkeit auf die Leichtathletik gerichtet ist, kaum schaden.

Und einer Sache ist sie sich schon in Vorfreude bewusst: „Was mich jetzt antreiben wird, ist die Vorstellung vor einem Wettkampf. Bei einer Michelle Perry dauerte es immer fünf Minuten, bis der Sprecher fertig war und dann kam: ‚Lolo Jones auf Bahn sechs’. Jetzt werde ich endlich etwas anderes hören.“

Lolo Jones, Hallen-Weltmeisterin 2008. Eine demütige Triumphatorin.

Source: Leichtathletik.de

Lolo Jones struck gold at the World Indoor Championships in Valencia earlier this month with a silky smooth performance in the 60m Hurdles. In her first online diary Lolo writes about how her life has changed after her first major championship success, her future plans and what it was like to meet basketball legend Michael Jordan.

“It’s been a pretty hectic time since the World Indoor Championships in Valencia and I’ve just been to Florida for an Oakley presentation where I’ve met some pretty cool people. Oakley, my personal eyeglass sponsors, have just launched their first sunglasses made specifically for female athletes.

“I put some input into the design of the glasses and it’s been super-exciting be involved. In the past they made just unisex glasses which did always quite look right for women because men have a bigger head. These glasses are really, really light, fit across the bridge of a girl’s nose better and come in more feminine colours like lipstick red.

“There were lots of celebrities at the presentation including Michael Jordan, who was surrounded by his PR people and bodyguards. It took quite a while to set up the chance to chat with him but after I was introduced as a World champion he was super-polite and gave me such a strong handshake. I suffered a bit of a black out and I can’t remember too much about what I said to him, except saying something like he was the best basketball player ever and he said it would be a pleasure to watch me on TV.

“I have been a bit surprised with the level of interest in me since winning the World Indoor title. I made a speech at the Oakley presentation and I was completely booked out with interviews from magazines. I don’t know why they have been so interested in me, but I like to offer my fitness advice and tips to the average Joe in the magazines.”

On training since Valencia…

“I was given one week off and then one week’s active rest in which I would do weights but no running. I told my coach (Dennis Shaver) I was ready to come back after a week but he told me to take one week’s active rest. I’m back to training next week and I can already picture returning back to full training and throwing up again during the hard sessions.”

On her future competition plans…

“I plan to open at the Drake Relays (Apr 24-26) and then do a couple of American meetings and maybe a couple of Golden League meetings. But I need to sit down and draw up a proper schedule before the American Trials.”

On her confidence since winning gold in Valencia…

“You would think that I would be more confident than ever, but I’m also humble. Susanna Kallur pulled out injured (in Valencia) and of the two Canadians one got sick (Angela Whyte) and the other tripped over a hurdle (Priscilla Lopes-Schliep).

“There was also no Michelle Perry (the world 100m hurdles champion) in Valencia or Virginia Powell (two-time US champion), so I’m humble in victory.”

Lolo

Source: IAAF

Valencia, Spain - Ask an athlete at which point tension feels the greatest and more often than not the answer is during the fifteen to twenty minutes spent in the call room, waiting to be led like gladiators into the arena.

American hurdler Lolo Jones confirmed that she had felt added pressure to perform after heavy favourite, world record holder, Susanna Kallur withdrew from the 60m hurdles competition on this the second day of the 12th IAAF World Indoor Championships citing a slight muscle tear. In the call room she wished American teammate Candice Davis good luck and then prepared herself for the battle.

“I wished Candice Davis good luck and then I was talking to myself more than anybody else,” she reveals with a long laugh. ”They probably thought I was loco!”

“Half of the time between the semi-final and final is spent on mental preparation. It’s telling yourself ‘you have done this all year, you can do it again.’ And you keep on telling yourself that. Because that’s where people lose the race it’s sitting in that call room for fifteen minutes.”

This indoor season has been a coming out party for the 25-year-old Baton Rouge, resident. She was the second fastest in the world with her time of 7.77 seconds. Only Kallur ran faster. Other than winning the 2007 US indoor championship the Louisiana State University graduate has been largely an also ran, not that a 6th place in last year’s World outdoor championships in Osaka is anything to be ashamed of.

But some things will change now.

“The only thing it’s going to help is when people announce my name at the beginning of a meet,” she concedes. “I mean, you know how they announce the athletes? it’s like "Michelle Perry - two time world champion’, It takes about five minutes to get through it and then it’s ‘Lolo jones lane 6.’ I will finally have something other than that.”

Clearly Jones possesses a self deprecating sense of humour which goes a long way in enhancing her popularity. From the dozens of Valencia school children whom she obliged with autographs and the volunteers with whom she happily posed for pictures following her race she was the model professional. When she finally made her way through the athlete/media 'Mixed Zone' to talk with the waiting press she was greeted by former World 100m champion Maurice Greene who gave her a hug. Waiting in the wings was her manager Mark Block.

She also received glowing praise from Susanna Kallur who sat in the athletes section during the hurdles final hoping her friend would emerge the victor.

“We were competing against each other in college,” Kallur said with a genuine smile. “ I went to the University of Illinois for three semesters and I competed against her in the nationals. So we have been seeing a lot of each other at the outdoor season and the previous indoor season. She is a great athlete. And we are good friends. Absolutely!”

The Swede’s withdrawal spoiled the victory somewhat for Jones’ and her outlook changed the moment she learned she was now the favourite. That moment came while giving a television interview following before the semi finals.

“You always expect to win,” Jones admits, “but then it’s a different ball game when you are running against the world record holder and she’s like a tenth of a second ahead of you.”

“I knew coming here I was going to run fast. This was when I though Susanna was running and that we would push each other to new national records so that’s what I was looking forward to, coming into the competition. Then when I found out she wasn’t running it was a whole different ball game because all the pressure that was on her was right on me.”

Jones refuses to be drawn into the theory that her Valencia victory will give her a psychological lift come the outdoor season. Quickly she points out 2007 World champion Michelle Perry was absent from these World championships and so to were others.

“I could name five people off the top of my head that didn’t run,” she declares, as if pleading to remain obscure. “Some of the girls who will be at the Olympics didn’t make (the final) like the Canadians. One girl got sick the night before (Angela Whyte), so she didn’t make it. Another one fell (Priscilla Lopes- Schliep). I will definitely take my medal. But............”

Then the girl who describes herself as a ‘house hermit” who watches television, plays video games and regularly goes to church rushes off to be taken to dinner by her shoe sponsors at Asics. But not without one final comment:

“My first medal is gold. How cool is that?”

Source: Paul Gains for the IAAF

Lolo Jones win the 60m hurdles and $ 25k from Visa at the 2008 USA Indoor Championship.

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By John Powers
Globe Staff / February 23, 2008
She remembers the head-scratching when people would see Lori Jones on the entry list for the hurdles. "They'd say, who is this girl and why is she running this time?" Lolo Jones says. "Where's Lolo? Why is Lolo not coming?"

The confusion went back to her childhood days in Des Moines, where mother and daughter had the same first name. "People would call the house," she recalls, "and it was, 'You want to speak to Big Lo or Baby Lo?' "

So she became Lolo, which Jones thinks is a cool name. "Sounds like a news reporter, doesn't it?" she says. "Lolo Jones at the scene of the crime."

Tomorrow afternoon, Jones will be at the scene at the Reggie Lewis Center for the USA Indoor Track & Field Championships to defend her title and there'll be no confusion about who's in the blocks. The public address announcer will make sure of that.

"When you line up at every track meet, the one thing they do before you run is, they go through your stats," says Jones, who is second to Gail Devers (with a clocking of 7.77 seconds) on the all-time US indoor list. "Before then, I had no stats. You can say, fourth-place finisher at USA, sixth place at Worlds, but until you're a national champion, that's when you start to turn heads."

Besides defending her crown, Jones will be bidding for a place on the US team for next month's world meet in Valencia, Spain, the next stop on the road to Olympus, which literally tripped her up four years ago.

Jones was just out of Louisiana State that summer with an outside shot at making the three-woman team for Athens in the 100-meter hurdles. But when she found herself running shoulder to shoulder in the semis with Joanna Hayes, who went on to win the Games, Jones was so startled that she lost concentration, hit the ninth hurdle, and took herself out of it. "That was a juvenile mistake," Jones acknowledges. "If I'd just kept going, kept running my race, I would have been fine."

Her slipup sent Jones into an emotional and financial tailspin. "It was a bad summer because you had to watch everybody compete in what you want to be your dream," she says. "And the fall was hard because the motivation was gone."

Missing the team meant no shoe contract and no cash. "The companies only want to sponsor people who make that Olympic team," Jones says. "If you don't make the team, they'll see you in a year. Basically, you mean nothing to them."

So Jones, who was working two minimum-wage jobs to make ends meet, began spending days in church, questioning why she was still running. "Is this what I need to be doing with my life?" she asked herself. "I have a college degree, I can go work at a company and get paid a salary."

But a second place in her professional debut overseas the next winter turned everything around. Nike signed her (she's with Asics now) and Jones began dropping her times and climbing in the domestic outdoor rankings, from 10th to fifth to fourth to third.

Last summer, she made the team for the world outdoor meet in Osaka, Japan, where Jones finished a creditable sixth and relearned a lesson. Nothing is guaranteed in a footrace, especially a footrace with fences.

In the hurdles, you can be having a gold-medal run, snag a spike on the final set of sticks, and end up facefirst on the track with the rest of the world passing you by. Yet Jones had been told that if you make the US team in the event, you're a lock for a global medal.

"I had the third-fastest time in the world going in, so I 'knew' I was going to get a medal," she says. "But I let the distractions get to me. All the other girls had PBs [personal bests] in the final. I should have had a PB."

Thus continued Jones's postgraduate education, much of which takes place overseas, where indoor hurdlers can race twice a week instead of twice a season, as they do in the States. The European circuit, which bounces from Scotland to Sweden to Germany to England to Poland, is good training for the unpredictability of the hurdles. "Being prepared for the random thing," Jones says. "You get used to the surprises."

It was in Karlsruhe, Germany, where Jones ran her 7.77 two weekends ago, when Sweden's Susanna Kallur set a world record (7.68). Unless you get Eurosport, though, you probably didn't see it. But it was a career marker for Jones, who's looking for another one tomorrow.

"Athletes will fight for a title even if it doesn't mean making an Olympic team," says Jones, who ranks behind Michelle Perry and Ginnie Powell outdoors. "Just to have the right to say, 'I am the US champion.' It's bragging rights."

In July, though, the outdoor title won't mean as much as a place on the team for Beijing, which is tougher for the 100-meter hurdlers than it is for any other runners. One race, one shot. "You hear the 100 [meter] people who messed up saying, 'Well, I got sixth, I got a spot on the relay,' " says Jones. "I'm like, can we make a shuttle hurdle relay team? When's that going to come back in style?"

Source: The Boston Globe

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