We are big fans of Lolo Jones here at Muscle & Fitness—we interviewed her before the London Games this summer and also ranked her as Team USA's hottest prospect during our Olympic coverage.
Jones finished fourth in the final of the 100-meter hurdles, and although she did not win the medal she wanted so much, she left the Games with her head held high.
Now, in a sprinter-turned-bobsledder plot twist pulled straight from the movie Cool Runnings, she's trying her hand at a different sport. Jones recently tried out for the U.S. bobsled team. She took to Twitter earlier this month to joke about her early forays in the sport:
"Day 2 of flying down the ice for Bobsled. I felt more confident as we flew at warp speed but that could be bc I upped my life insurance…," she tweeted.
According to Yahoo! Sports, U.S. bobsled coach Todd Hays invited the hurdler and other sprinters to talk about their own time at the Olympics and to inspire winter athletes.
Jones, trying out as a push-athlete, teamed up with bobsled pilot Jazmine Fenlator, and the pair placed second in Jones' first official race on Saturday.
"I'm just trying to take it all in. It's a new sport for me and there's a ton of room for improvement. … I'm coming in here trying to learn everything quickly. I'm looking forward to fixing some things and hammering it out," she said, according to Sports Illustrated.
Well, she must have fixed some things and hammered other things out because, according to Yahoo! Sports, she made the U.S. team roster on Thursday.
"She surprised me every day with how dedicated she is," said Hays. "The one word I keep coming back to is, she's such a competitor. She cannot accept not being good at something. She gets up earlier than everybody else, goes to bed later, constantly trying to get better.”
Jones still has some work to do. According to the LA Times, there are only three push-athlete places available, and Jones is among six women who made the cut today. The final selection will be made before the World Cup circuit starts on November 8.
Jones says she still wants to run at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, and one has to admire her moxy for not giving up on her dream to reach the Olympic podium by whatever means possible. After the heartbreak of the Beijing Games when she crashed out and the fourth place finish during the summer, she could have packed it all in and moved on with her life.
But her drive and determination to reach her goal of winning an Olympic medal has pushed her outside of her comfort zone. The 30-year-old must have known there would be naysayers, but that has not deterred her.
Here, we say "More Power to You" Lolo! Real work and determination will never be critiqued here, only supported. Prove the doubters wrong, Lolo, and continue to chase the dream!
