Her Name is Lolo, She Was A Track Star

This was Drake Relays weekend in Des Moines, and elite track athletes (along with select collegiates and Iowa high schoolers) descended upon the city at one of the premier track meets in America.  The field was especially good this year, with big prize money drawing many current and future Olympians.

Among the many elites was Des Moines' own Lolo Jones, the pride of Theodore Roosevelt High School.  Lolo was a great collegiate hurdler, who gained fame in 2008 as a favorite to win the women's Olympic 100 meter hurdles in Beijing, and led the final with two hurdles to go, only to clip the second-to-last one and not place.

This had to be one of the more devastating moments in recent Olympic history.  I mean, it could easily replace the falling ski jumper as the 'agony of defeat' visual on Wide World of Sports.  In the face of this, Lolo was determined to return 4 years later and get a medal.  Against the odds, she qualified for the 2012 London Olympics, and made the final, but ultimately did not place again.

Since the disappointment of 2008, Lolo has been known as much for attention she's gained off the track, from her good looks (modeling) to some controversial statements she's made in national interviews and social media.  More recently, she's become a member of the U.S. women's bobsled team, with a chance at an Olympic medal in that sport in 2014.

This has all led to some resentment from other track athletes, about the attention Lolo gets for not winning.  I used to think that was just jealously, and she deserved a break.  Until two things happened.

First, a few years ago an athletic trainer working at the Drake Relays told me what a diva Lolo was to work with.  Now this week, after not winning at the Drake Relays again (she finished 4th), Lolo complained to the media that there was always more pressure at Drake, so many demands on her time, it affected her performance.  She was sure there would be more haters out there.

C'mon now.  People want to like Lolo for all she's been through, including a tough childhood.  But let's face it, no one has made a better career out of not winning than Lolo has.  She chose to do that modeling, those interviews, her tweets, the bobsled deal.  If she feels her Q-rating is falling now, that's on her.

After London, one writer compared Lolo to tennis' formerly popular and attractive non-winner Anna Kournikova, which really wasn't fair because Lolo did win world titles.  The other difference, however, is that after a while, Kournikova went away, and didn't try to re-invent herself in later years as anything other than the mediocre pro tennis player she was.

I'd say it's time to stop keeping track (no pun intended) of Lolo.  I guess that makes me a hater.  I still wish good luck to her, but there are other athletes more worthy of attention.  In the meantime, here's my ode to Lolo, sung to the tune of 'Copacabana':

Her name is Lolo
She was a track star
But that was several years ago
When she used have the 'go'
Now she does bobsled
She's getting older
Not sure to cheer her or to boo
Let's all move on to someone new