United States' LoLo Jones reacts after winning a women's 100-meter hurdles semi-final during the athletics competitions in the National Stadium at the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Monday, Aug. 18, 2008.
BEIJING -- Lolo Jones of Des Moines, Iowa, ran the fastest women's high hurdles time since the 2004 Olympics, 12.43 seconds, to win her semifinal heat of the 100-meter hurdles Monday night.
Joanna Hayes of the United States won the Athens gold medal in 12.37 seconds.
University of Illinois product Susanna Kallur of Sweden went tumbling to the track in the second semifinal when she failed to get her lead leg over the first hurdle.
U.S. hurdlers had the three fastest times. Damu Cherry won the second heat in 12.62, followed by Dawn Harper in 12.66.
The final is Tuesday.
Source: LA Times
Beijing, China — Jamaican world record-holder Usain Bolt isn’t the only one with gold track shoes at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
U.S. hurdler Lolo Jones pounded hers into the National Stadium surface today to produce a time of 12.71 seconds and qualify for the semifinals of the 100-meter hurdles.
So what’s the difference between Jones and Bolt, who became the buzz of Beijing by decimating the 100-meter men’s field Saturday despite coasting in celebration the last 15 meters to a record 9.69 seconds?
Jones has more mileage on her gold shoes.
That, and Bolt has a gold medal to match.
“I’ve been wearing my shoes now for almost two years,” said Jones, a Des Moines native. “I’ve been wearing these shoes when I was getting fifth and sixth place.
“I remember I had to look at these shoes every day at practice and I was like, ‘Look Lolo, you better start winning, because you can’t be wearing no gold shoes getting fifth and sixth place.’
“So maybe he copied me.”
Jones’ time was fourth-fastest among the 40 hurdlers in five heats.
It seemed like Jones might continue to run around the stadium known as the “Bird’s Nest” just to burn excess energy.
Jones bounced around in post-race interviews like someone who had polished off six cups of coffee.
“I’m glad to finally be able to run,” said Jones, 26, a former all-American at LSU and reigning 60-meter hurdles world indoor champion. “We’ve been sitting around the village for two weeks now, so it’s like, ‘C’mon, when do we get to run?’
“I got one under my belt and I’m good to go. My body knows what to do — it’s kind of like automatic pilot right now.”
Jones admitted that stepping into the starting blocks in front of 91,000 Olympic spectators tested her nerves.
“It was different and I felt that in the warmup room,” Jones said. “Just because this is my first Olympic experience. And I had to keep telling myself, ‘Look, you know you’ve run in front of crowds 80,000-, 90,000-plus.
“This is no different, you know? Just because it’s called the Olympics, calm down. My mind was going kind of crazy on me. I had to like, slap it into place real quick.”
The frenzied scene slowed down in Jones’ mind, just at the right time.
“There’s always like a calm before the storm,” she said. “Right before you’re about to get in the blocks and your body is like, ‘You know what, I’ve done this so many times, I know what to do — let’s go.’ ”
Walking off the track felt even better than walking on, Jones said.
“Everything’s clicking just right,” she said. “I’m in the best shape ever in my life. I’m just ready to run fast now.”
No one is unbeaten in the women’s 100-meter hurdles, so the field that is set in Monday’s semifinals is expected to establish a high-drama final Tuesday.
Jones hopes to keep her golden shoes in the spotlight — even if she did miss Bolt’s record-breaking, chatter-fueling run.
“I was trying to get my beauty sleep,” Jones said. “I need to YouTube it or something.”
Source: Des Moines Register
Lolo Jones and I exchanged a flurry of text messages when she visited Des Moines July 15 for her Olympic send-off. But we never connected. Lolo was too busy helping flood-relief victims, inspiring young athletes and showing Iowans that the state would be represented by an energetic ambassador of goodwill.
"I'm sorry, Marilyn. I'll make it up to you," read her final text message.
Of course she has nothing to make up to me. It was reward enough to watch the kindness of this extraordinary young woman I got to know 10 years before when she was a teenager in need.
Lolo moved in with my family her junior year of high school. My former husband, Randy Essex, and I knew Lolo from the Des Moines Area Youth Track Club, where our son, Dustin Essex, 10, ran distance events. Under the leadership of Coach Phil Ferguson, the track club had a family-like atmosphere. And in the summer of 1998, one of our kids was facing a gigantic hurdle: Lolo's mother was moving to Forest City.
We knew Lolo had tremendous promise that could be wasted were she forced to abruptly change track coaches and schools. We told Coach Phil we would help if we could.
His reply, "Can she live with you?"
Randy and I certainly hadn't gotten through life without unexpected help from time to time. When we married, a friend in Abilene, Texas, gave us an embarrassingly large cash present with a note that read, "Pass it along when you're able. Spread a little bread on the water."
Overnight, we became immersed in the world of a teenage girl: hosting basketball dinners, getting our house wrapped in toilet paper, learning the hit music of the time. I even surprised myself by uttering words I never thought would come from my mouth: "Please turn your stereo down."
When time for driver's education approached, Lolo was chagrined at discovering both our vehicles had standard transmissions. I can still hear my gears grinding as the hills of Glendale Cemetery proved more challenging for Lolo than hurdles ever were. Randy that night told her when she was a famous Olympian and could afford an expensive sports car, she would thank us for teaching her to drive a stick. Most teens would have laughed off such a comment as a pipe dream. But Randy had stumbled upon her most precious dream. "Don't put that kind of pressure on me," she retorted.
We got to be part of a village that helped Lolo. Coach Phil and members of the track club looked out for her. Teachers at Roosevelt High School made sure she put together the right classes to be ready for college. Dr. Dennis Kommer, a Des Moines orthodontist, enhanced her winning smile by reducing the cost of her braces. Des Moines attorney Dwight James handled paperwork pro bono to assure she was covered by our health insurance. Jean and Kim Walker and later Janice Caldwell also welcomed Lolo into their homes. And the list goes on.
Now, watching world champion Lolo Jones being interviewed brings on happy tears, surprised tears, but most of all proud tears.
Lolo told a news reporter that over the years when she needed help, strangers told her, "Here it is - no strings attached. I'm glad I could return what somebody did for me years ago."
Taking a stranger into our home was risky. Failing to step in when a teen's future was on the line would have been far riskier.
I think back to our friend's advice, "Spread a little bread on the water." Sometimes you never know how far an act of kindness will travel.
Nurtured by Lolo's determination and hard work, the kindness showed by so many in central Iowa has gone all the way to Beijing - with bread crumbs scattered across several oceans.
Source: Des Moines Register
Beijing, China - They stand silent sentry, stretched over 100 meters, waiting to test the focus and determination of Olympic hurdlers - and alter the course of others.
Ten chances to slow a runner, to sap precious, race-determining hundredths of seconds.
Ten chances to send dreams tumbling into track's abyss.
Ten chances to change fortunes and, in some cases, lives.
Few understand the hazard-filled road from start line to hurdling glory better than Des Moines Roosevelt's Lolo Jones, who begins competition in the Olympic 100-meter hurdles Sunday at Beijing's National Stadium.
"They keep saying, 'Lolo, you're the favorite to go in,' " Jones said. "And I tell them, no, it's hurdles - 10 obstacles in front of us and anybody can hit any one of those and go from first to third so fast."
There's no need for Jones to convince others of her caution. The 26-year-old, in her first Olympics, owns a couple dozen hurdle-related scars on her world-class legs to prove it.
No one has run faster in the world this year than the 12.29-second, wind-aided clocking Jones recorded in July to win the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore.
Jones rewinds back to 2004, though, to painfully recall a hurdle grabbing her at the U.S. Olympic Trials in the 100-meter semifinals - and nearly forcing her out of the sport as she gauged whether she could financially continue.
"Maybe in a regular track meet, you might be able to have a bad start and still make a comeback," Jones said. "But at the Olympics, everybody's going to be on their 'A' game."
U.S. women's track coach Jeanette Bolden said Jones is "definitely on the rise" coming into the Olympics, an assessment that bodes well for a shot at the 2012 Olympics in London.
But Jones remembers Drake Relays star Perdita Felicien, an Olympic favorite, crumpling to the ground at the 2004 Athens Games.
"She was the favorite last time, and fell over the first hurdle," she said.
Misfortune also ensnared defending Olympic champion and record-holder Johanna Hayes when she failed to advance beyond the Olympic Trials.
"It just inspired me, like 'Look, Lolo, you're not guaranteed another Olympics,' " Jones said. "This is it. Go for it."
Jones predicts Delloreen Ennis-London and Bridgitte Foster-Hylton of Jamaica, Australia's Sally McLellan and Spain's Josephine Onyia will vie for medals.
A representative of Asics, a shoe company and Jones sponsor, jokingly mentioned before a photo shoot on a Beijing rooftop this week that USA Today had picked another set of legs to win gold.
The newspaper selected Ennis-London in its medal predictions. Most others, however, have picked Jones.
Jones shrugged off the news, seemingly relaxed and oblivious to the analysis of others.
Kim Carson, a former Roosevelt star who also competed as an elite hurdler, said Jones is acclimating herself to the Olympic attention - but may be unprepared for what waits if she crosses the line first at Tuesday's finals.
"It's coming a mile a minute," Carson said.
Jones is certain, however, of the focus needed to face the world's best - and the 10 other challenges along the way.
"The focus has to be severely intense," she said.
Source: The Des Moines Register
