One day after her disappointing fourth place finish in the 100-meter hurdles, a teary-eyed LoLo Jones sat down with NBC and talked about feeling “crushed” after reading a New York Times article that she felt was low on research and high on criticism.
“I think it was crazy just because it was it was two days before I competed,” Jones told Today, choking up as she discussed the recent article. “And the fact that it was from a U.S. media, they should be supporting our U.S. Olympic athletes and instead they just ripped me into shreds and I just thought that was crazy because I worked six days a week, every day for four years for a 12-second race.”
“The fact that they just tore me apart, it was heartbreaking,” she added. “They didn’t even do their research,” when they compared her to Anna Kournikova, who is known more for her stunning looks than achievements in her sport.
Despite the disappointment of falling just short of the medal podium by .10 seconds, Jones said she was proud of the way she battled back from spinal cord surgery and two hamstring injuries.
“Obviously it opens you up to a lot of negativity,” she said of revealing herself to the public. “But at the same time if I could just reach somebody out there—maybe there’s a little girl out there who doesn’t think she can be an Olympic athlete and she sees all the things I struggled to get there.”
As far as the race goes, Jones said she saddened by the outcome, tweeting after the race that she had a “broken heart.” She also told Today that she was “crushed afterwards” despite running her best race all year.
“I laid it out there,” she said, “I fought hard for my country.”
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