In 2010, Lolo Jones won the 60 metre hurdles at the Doha Indoor World Championship Games. Image courtesy of Erik van Leeuwen, Wikipedia.
Joel Kontinen
New York Times sportswriter Jere Longman obviously wants Olympic hurdler Lolo Jones to keep her Christian views to herself and stop appearing on magazine covers. In an article written just a few days before Jones run in the 100 metre hurdles finals in the London Olympics, Longman said that the fame of Lolo Jones was due to marketing and her good looks.
Lolo Jones, who turned 30 during the Olympics, disclosed that she is still a virgin and will stay so until marriage. An evangelical Christian, she has not been ashamed to tweet Bible passages and to say that Jesus is Lord.
Some Christian sites have suggested that this might be the real reason for Longman’s antagonism. The left-leading media will hardly criticise a Hollywood star for turning to Buddhism or some sort of New Age philosophy, but when one of the top woman hurdlers says that she will abide by the Bible’s teaching on marriage, the New York Times is up in arms.
In the Beijing Olympics, Jones narrowly missed the gold after clipping the penultimate hurdle. She was seventh. In London she was fourth, a tenth of a second from the bronze medal. Nothing to be ashamed of.
Recently, Lolo Jones appeared on the cover of Oxygen – Woman’s Fitness.
Source:
McClelland, Mac. 2012. Medal-less Lolo Jones has nothing to be ashamed of. Reuters: The Great Debate (8 August).
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