Lolo Jones uses stumble at Olympics as motivation

No counseling is necessary to clear Lolo Jones’ mind of clipping that next-to-last hurdle in the 100-meter finals at the Beijing Olympics last summer.

Jones doesn’t want to forget that feeling when she had gold all but locked up, only to stumble and stagger across in seventh place.

The memory remains a mighty motivator.

"A lot of what happened at the Olympics just put fuel in the fire," Jones said in a teleconference Wednesday as she prepares to defend her crown this weekend at the USA Indoor Track & Field Championships in Boston. "Instead of paying for a psychiatrist, I just go to practice. It’s like having a session for free."

Still, the 26-year-old can’t watch the footage from the Olympic finals.

Not yet at least.

Once, a talk show played a clip of the race in the background while interviewing her, and she could hear the audio.

That was painful enough.

"I know exactly what happened. I’ve relived that race so many times," Jones said. "I pretty much had the driver’s side seat on watching it in the actual race."

Jones was the fastest hurdler in the world entering the finals, and blazed out to a big lead. She simply caught the ninth of 10 hurdles and couldn’t recover as American Dawn Harper went on to capture gold.

Did Jones go out too fast in hoping to break the Olympic record? Could she have backed off a bit?

Not an option.

Sure, her semifinal performance — a personal-best 12.43 seconds — would’ve easily won the gold medal, but she was looking for more. Jones didn’t want to win gold so much as win gold in spectacular fashion.

"I was trying to give my all and my best," Jones said. "I wasn’t just trying to get an ’A’ on a paper, I was trying to have the best paper ever written in history."

Her anguish, though, captured hearts. She didn’t run away from the cameras. Instead, the ever-graceful Jones openly and painfully talked about her slip up.

"I don’t think people would’ve remembered my name as much if I would’ve won," Jones said. "Everybody can relate to not getting something they want or something they’ve worked so hard for. That speaks on all levels. It speaks to everybody."

Soon after the Olympics, Jones received a small measure of redemption, winning a race in Zurich, Switzerland, that was stacked with Olympians.

"That was the race I felt I needed to win," Jones said.

It was healing therapy for her confidence.

Now she’s off to another torrid start, breezing to a win in the 60-meter hurdles last week at a meet in Birmingham, England.

However, while at the competition, Jones made a comment concerning the World Anti-Doping Agency’s new drug testing rules that she said was misinterpreted.

Jones isn’t against testing, just how it’s administered.

With the new rule, athletes need to give three months’ notice of their availability for one hour each day during out-of-competion drug testing.

That, Jones admitted, is difficult to do.

"I’ve always been 100 percent supportive of all drug testing and anything that will keep drugs out of track and field," Jones said. "What I was trying to say is I don’t care if they have to put GPS (navigation) on me 24/7. If that’s what it takes to keep the sport clean, by all means I’m for it. ... I think this new system just needs to get its kinks ironed out."

Jones certainly appears to be in top form on the track.

"I can’t believe I’m running as consistently fast as I am," said Jones, who lives in Baton Rouge, La., and still trains with Dennis Shaver, her coach from Louisiana State. "Normally, I’ll have some ups and downs. I’ve been pretty consistent, so I’m excited."

She’s the favorite to win the 60-meter hurdles this weekend at the indoor championships.

Even more, Jones has a shot at capturing her second straight Visa championship, which is awarded to the top performer throughout the four-meet series. All Jones has to do is finish in a time of 7.86 seconds or better. That would give her enough points to surge ahead of Jenn Stuczynski, provided the pole vaulter doesn’t break her American record at the meet.

Jones won the hurdles in Boston in a time of 7.88 seconds last year, allowing her to take the series title, along with a $25,000 bonus check from Visa.

No matter where she goes, her stumble at the Olympics is brought up. She doesn’t duck the questions, tries to answer them as honestly as she can.

"I’m definitely still getting over it," Jones said. "Every race is helping me."

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