August 6, 2012
GROB: Don't mess with Lolo
JAMES GROB
Courier sports editor
OTTUMWA — It’s a doggone shame that there always seems to be someone out there who has to put the “hate hat” on.
This time, it’s Jere Longman of The New York Times.
For reasons unexplained, Longman felt compelled to write up a hit piece about Iowa native Lolo Jones this past weekend, and The Times felt compelled to publish it. The article is a little bit long on negativity and personal attack and a little bit short on fact and thought. It is a perfect example of why so many people from all walks of life and from all corners of the political aisle roll their eyes in disgust whenever The New York Times is mentioned.
In general, Longman is a good sports writer and journalist. His articles and books are interesting to read. But with this latest column, he’s way off base.
His specific complaint about Lolo is unclear, because the article is poorly-written by Longman’s standards, but he seems to be trumpeting the idea that Lolo has accomplished far too little to deserve all the media attention she receives.
He writes, “Jones has received far greater publicity than any other American track and field athlete competing in the London Games. This was based not on achievement but on her exotic beauty and on a sad and cynical marketing campaign. Essentially, Jones has decided she will be whatever anyone wants her to be — vixen, virgin, victim — to draw attention to herself and the many products she endorses.”
He then backs up his point with some generic quotes from some “feminist” spokesperson who clearly knows little of Lolo, the Olympics or athletics in general.
Longman also criticizes Lolo for proudly talking about all she has had to overcome to get to where she is. Lolo often candidly discusses her impoverished upbringing in interviews.
Then Longman calls Lolo out for an “insensitive Twitter remark” — a remark that Longman intentionally — perhaps cynically — takes out of context.
So Longman’s problem seems to be that Lolo Jones portrays herself as attractive, intelligent, engaging, sexy and interesting. Most of us see these as good things, but somehow, Longman sees this as an affront to female athletes everywhere.
Well, I’ve got some news for Mr. Longman. I’ve met Lolo Jones — briefly — and I have followed her career since she was breaking track records as a senior at Des Moines Roosevelt. She is not cynically “portraying herself” as attractive, intelligent, engaging, sexy and interesting. Lolo Jones sincerely is attractive, intelligent, engaging, sexy and interesting. And so much more.
And what gives some male, middle-aged writer from the New York Times the audacity to tell a female Olympic athlete from Iowa how she should portray herself?
Lolo hasn’t earned the media attention she gets?
Give me a break.
She was favored to win the 100 hurdles at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but she tripped on the penultimate hurdle, finishing in seventh place. She went on to win silver at the 2008 World Athletics Final. She is the American record holder in the 60 hurdles.
She finished first at the World Indoors Championships in 2007 and again in 2010. She is an 11-time All-American at Louisiana State University who was raised by a single mother, lived in a church basement with her family for a time during a turbulent adolescence. Her father, a veteran, spent time in prison. Her mother was left to raise six children. The family moved several times.
Longman somehow forgot to mention those things. He also forgot to mention that Lolo had surgery for a painful spinal condition in August of last year, leaving her a short window to both recover and train to qualify for the Olympics.
She made it, though, barely. And Monday, she qualified for the semifinals with the fastest time in her heat and the second-fastest time overall.
And in a classy move that perfectly characterizes the Lolo we know here in Iowa, she immediately went to try to comfort opponent Brigitte Foster-Hylton, the Jamaican hurdler who was considered a medal contender but suffered the same fate Monday that Jones did in Beijing in 2008, tripping on a hurdle and ending her dream of ascending the podium.
Reaching back and lending a hand to others is what Lolo is all about, and if Longman had placed one phone call to anyone here in Iowa who knows something about Lolo, he would have found that out.
She reaches that hand back to try to pull people up because she’s been there.
A couple years ago, while visiting Des Moines for the Drake Relays, she made a surprise visit to Des Moines Roosevelt to deliver a pair of new Asics running shoes for each member of the school’s track team. She also delivered a $3,000 check to buy indoor practice hurdles and for improvements to repair the school’s track surface.
And during the devastating floods of 2008, Jones donated her $4,000 prize she earned from winning the 100-meter hurdles at the Olympic trials to Renee Trout, a single mother from Cedar Rapids who was hit by the Iowa flood of 2008. Her corporate sponsors matched the donation. Jones flew with Trout to Cedar Rapids aboard a private jet provided by the Iowa Farm Bureau to tour the neighborhoods affected by the flood.
Longman should also take a minute and educate himself about “Hurdles of Hope” and the Lolo Jones Foundation. He might be surprised at how much work the program has done to help Iowans and Americans in need. She was once named Visa Humanitarian Athlete of the Year by USA Track and Field for her community service.
So here in Iowa, where we know Lolo, we don’t think too highly of your hit pieces, Mr. Longman. We think it’s especially rude of you to write an article like that on Lolo’s 30th birthday. No class.
As I write this, I do not know how well Lolo will do in Tuesday’s semifinals and finals. I am hoping she will come away with a medal — maybe even a gold medal.
But even if she doesn’t, I’ll still be proud of her. Regardless of what people like Mr. Longman write about her, I believe she represents all that is good about Iowa, athletes and women.
I like Lolo Jones. She’s in a class by herself.