“Hi,

“The last few weeks have obviously been a tough time for me. As I’m sure you are aware I crashed out of the semi-finals of the US Champs ending my dream of making the World Championships in Berlin. As readers of my diary know after injuring a hamstring in April, returning for the US Championships was always going to be a gamble and so it proved. I probably needed a bit more time to re-hab. I messed up technically and ran out of the race. The hurdles is sometimes such an unforgiving event.

“Since I returned to Europe I finished seventh in Oslo and eighth in Lausanne and the tables have now turned. From last year when I was guaranteed lanes I’m now not even making some meets. I’m now the one fighting for lanes and trying to fight my way back to the top. It feels like my rookie season all over again. It is hard because after enjoying the best season in my life last year I’m now having the worst season of my life. And it is not like I’ve been let down gently, it is from one extreme to the other. I am still down. It sucks.

“I am a real goal-setting person and to now know I’m not competing at the World Championships is tough. Still, I have had to re-set my goals are now I need to start running the times I ran last year and to make the end-of-season IAAF World Athletics Final in Greece. I plan to get into as many races I can – and if it means racing three back-to-back races I will do. I just have to be comfortable, get my rhythm back and I’ll be fine. Physically, I’m in shape. I put a lot of hard work to come back from injury. I’m just not seeing the benefits yet.

“What has been a real positive had been the response from my fellow competitors. I had four girls in Lausanne – Brigitte Foster-Hylton, Delloreen Ennis-London, Perdita Felicien and Priscilla Lopes-Schliep all come up to me and said ‘hang in there. We’ve had our tough times in the sport, too.’ You’d think the same girls I was competing against couldn’t care less. I think that says a lot about the character of the girls and the track and field community as a whole.

“During the Oslo meet I spoke to Colin Jackson, the former 110m Hurdles World record holder and two-time World champion. He experienced a very similar disappointment to me in that he went into an Olympics as World No.1 but didn’t win gold, back at the 1992 Barcelona Games. I thought I could gain a real insight from him. I asked him how long it took him to get over his Olympic disappointment and he said ‘about 18 months.’ He said ‘for some reason you don’t know why it’s not working and then all of a sudden its working.’

“It’s all about fighting and for me it is about climbing all the way back to the top. No-one stays on the top for ever and no-one stays on the bottom forever. That is what the sport has taught me.”

Lolo

Hi again,

A new year and I can’t believe I’m already on the verge of starting my indoor campaign in Glasgow on Saturday.

This winter has been different because I’ve done a huge amount of travelling with many promotions and speeches, although the media interest has now calmed down enough, so I can manage it. I am also pleased with what stage my hurdling is at. I feel like my rhythm is at the same stage as the middle of the last indoor season, so I’m a month ahead of schedule.

I’m also on the cover of the latest issue of Runners’ World magazine, the first female abs to ever grace the front page – which I’m super-ecstatic about. It’s funny, I did the shoot months ago after I went on a short vacation and my abs weren’t as tight as they could have been. I was really pleased with the outcome, though because they didn’t want body builders abs they wanted a runners’ abs.

I have seen the magazine in the newsagent and bought two issues – but I made sure when I bought them I put them face down. The shop assistant had to turn them over to get the bar code but he had no clue, so that was a relief!

I also went on vacation to Disneyland, California with some friends over New Year. I am a big fan of Disney I watch the Disney Channel and all the teeny bopper shows and I know all the music.

It was pretty cool to go to Disneyland for the first time. I had been to Disneyworld but only for a track meet, so I never got the chance to try the rides. But this time I got to try all the rides.

They simulate a lot of movies and recreated the horror house to one of my favourite movies the Nightmare Before Christmas, which was pretty cool.

I also met one of my favourites movie stars Adam Sandler in California. I’m a big fan of the Wedding Singer and lots of his movies, although I didn’t meet him for long and just had my picture taken with him.

But now it is all about track and the indoor season ahead. I’m really looking forward to the European indoor season because the crowd are always amazing and because the circuit is so extensive I can really establish a rhythm.

I ran a good indoor season last year and I just want to work on what I achieved last year and to make my start more consistent.

Lolo

Hi again,

Refreshed after an end-of-season break it seems a long time since by last IAAF diary piece. I’ve been away for a short break to Jamaica and then to Las Vegas but my main vacation was in Brazil. We stayed on the island on Florianopolis and it was very laid back and a good place to surf. I’d never been to Brazil before and it was just what I needed, a totally relaxing holiday, after the constant flow of media demands since Beijing.

I returned to training about a week ago and, surprisingly, it has so far gone better than expected. Normally when in my off-season I’m on the couch eating junk food and watching TV for a month, but because it was Olympic year I’ve never stopped. I actually took a month and a half off which was more than usual, but I think because I was rushing around with speaking and media engagements I managed to keep the weight off and started training again having lost some weight!

I feel invigorated for the next year and I’m really looking forward to the World Championships in Berlin. Germany is one of my favourite places to run because their crowds are pretty wild and so knowledgeable about athletics.

I’ve also managed to pick up a couple of sponsors since the Olympic Games and I’m featured in a commercial for a mattress company. They have used my name to sell Low Low prices – instead of Lolo – and the commercial is going to be shown in the southern states, which I’m pretty excited about. They have also given me a beautiful mattress, which is supposed to put the air back into your body. It is worth around $10,000 and is the most expensive mattress I’ve ever had!

I’m also going to Japan in December where my sponsors, Asics, are going to mould me a specific custom made pair of Lolo shoes. I’m so excited by the project because I have really high arches and my feet are so slender and narrow people call by feet skis. The colour? Well, I don’t know yet but Asics switch up their colours from hot pink to gold, so we’ll just have to see.

As for now it is back to the hard slog of training and back out for the indoor season. I hope to start competing again in early February, although I’m undecided about whether to do the US indoor circuit for the first time or the European indoor circuit, which I love.

Normally, at this time of the year Lolo Jones would already be enjoying a well deserved holiday but this is no normal year – in all respects – and Lolo will have to wait a little bit longer before she can fly to the Caribbean or Mexico

I can’t believe how crazy I’ve been with so many speaking engagements and so much media interest, especially considering I never even won a medal in Beijing.

I’ve only been back home to Baton Rouge for five days – and even then it has only been for an odd day at a time.
There is a lot of media lined up in my home state of Iowa and I also appeared on the Bonnie Hunt show, which is a national day-time talk show. Normally I can sit down at the end of a season and go on vacation but not this time, at least not yet.

I’ve also managed to pick up some external sponsors and made some money for being an athlete away from the track, which I suppose is every athlete’s dream

Next, well I hope it is not too long until I do have that vacation. I normally get the chance to chill out and do nothing for five weeks in the off-season and hopefully it won’t be long before I book a holiday in the Caribbean or Mexico

I have at least had the chance to indulge in a few things I normally wouldn’t during the off-season – in fact I’ve had the diet of a five-year-old

I’ve been eating things like spaghetti hoops and cup cakes, although thankfully my weight doesn’t fluctuate too much and when I return to training on November 3 I hope I won’t be too big

Yet what I have done and what I am doing is largely irrelevant after a huge shadow has been cast over my off-season following the tragic death of my friend, LeJuan Simon, who died last week.

He was a fellow Louisiana State University athlete and I remember the last time I saw him was very skinny when normally he had a very big body build. I knew he had a disease, although he was insistent when we last spoke before the Olympics that he would beat it. I’ll always remember him for his funny, charming, goofy-kind of smile. I was devastated to receive the news

Unfortunately, I cannot attend the funeral but my thoughts will always be with him.”

Lolo

*LeJuan Simon, who won the 2004 NCAA indoor triple jump title died in Baton Rouge aged 27 due to complications with Primary Pulmonary Hypertension, a condition that creates additional pressure in the pulmonary artery responsible for supplying blood and the necessary oxygen to the lungs. He also represented Trinidad at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.

After a devastating end of an Olympic campaign which included a new personal best 12.43, US champion Lolo Jones showed the class and the heart of a champion.

If I cannot make it over ten hurdles I do not deserve to be the champion.”

I want to go home and hide in my house and cry, but I’m just going to go out there and keep running.”

Racing and winning, that is what I want to do to get over the disappointment.

I have never won the IAAF World Athletics Final, so that is my goal now.”

After her Brussels appearance tonight, Lolo will take time out for a little fun. She’s heading back to the United States to attend the US Open as a guest of Stephen Schwarzman, Chairman and CEO of one of the world’s largest investment firms, The Blackstone Group.

“I can imagine how crushing this type of disappointment is and I thought that having a trip to New York and watching another great sporting match perhaps might help her refocus onto something positive,” Schwarzman wrote in an email invitation to Jones’ agent, Robert Wagner.

I have been trying to catch up with the tennis results to see who will actually be in the final,” said Jones of the US Open.

I am really looking forward to it. I will have a couple of days in New York so I’m also looking forward to going shopping there.”

I need to keep busy and I didn’t want to travel back home to Baton Rouge because of what has happened with the Hurricane.

This time, the Hurricane hit Baton Rouge a lot harder than New Orleans. A tree fell down in my front yard and a tree in my backyard and there is no electricity. It’s flooded all around. My brother and my sister have put sand bags all around the house and I really do not want to go back home until the end of the athletics season as it will be too much of a distraction.”

Lolo

World Indoor champion Lolo Jones reflects on her Olympic 100m Hurdles final and looks forward to the end of the Grand Prix season.

Hi again,

Okay, so we’ll get the hard part out of the way first. Everyone has been asking what went wrong? Why did I trip over hurdle nine when leading the Olympic final?

Well, the simple answer is I just don’t have one. It is the hurdles. Stuff happens. Lots of people have been trying to put words in my mouth into why I tripped but I can’t give a clear explanation.

All I can say is that I felt fantastic going into the final. I was so focused. Everything seemed to click in the middle of the race but those hurdles always approach quicker and quicker and you can either slow down and break or keep turning your legs over. I turned my legs over and tripped over hurdle nine.

It is strange. I could have played it safe and just tried to win a medal, but that is what I thought in Osaka and ended up missing out and finishing sixth.

No, I said to myself it is important and run well, run as fast as I ever have done and put on a good show for the crowd.

It’s funny that after reflecting on what happened I feel I achieved a number of my goals. I ran a lifetime best of 12.43 in the semi-finals and I was leading the race – until at least hurdle nine.

I also have to put the performance in perspective. Four years ago I sat watching the women’s 100m hurdles final in tears after I failed to qualify through the Olympic Trials. Now here I was crying on the track after failing to win the gold medal.

Of course, I guess all I wanted to do was run off the track and talk to my family after the race but I had a duty to front up to the media and talk to the press guys. They had shown an interest in me during the rounds when I was the fastest it was only fair I explained myself to them as best I could.

As you can imagine I found it hard to sleep that night. I hung out with Angela Whyte the Canadian hurdler and we played basketball in the international zone until 4.30pm in the morning. We tried to score hoops and Angela won. I joked with her ‘Damn, I can’t even win a game of basketball.’ I don’t think I got to sleep until 7.30am.

I’ve been overwhelmed with the response from people who sent me texts and emails offering their support. That last few days have been a bit rough and I truly thank them all. But it is no use looking back, I have to look forward.

I plan to run as many races as I can in Europe starting with Zurich (on Aug 27) and I’m using Susanna Kallur as my inspiration. Susanna went into last year’s World Championships in Osaka expected to medal, but she finished fourth. She bounced back by running as well as she ever had done at the back of the season and carried that roll on into the indoor season. I hope to do the same.

I’m certainly not giving up and my next big goal is the 2012 Olympics in London, which has a bit of a ring to it. Lolo Jones London that has three Lo’s in it. Yes, that sounds good!”

Lolo

World Indoor champion and newly crowned US champion Lolo Jones is now heading to China to take part in her first Olympic Games. She tells IAAF readers all about it…

Hi guys,

This is it. The preparations are all out of the way. No more rehearsals. No more excuses.

The next time I will step on my blocks will be at the Olympic Games in Beijing. Wow.

I’m back in Baton Rouge now after my second visit to Europe where I raced in Barcelona, Stockholm and London and I was fairly pleased with how I ran. Three races, three wins and all in the 12.5s and 12.6s which is what I wanted.

My first race back after winning the US trials in Barcelona was quite tough simply because I was still a little mentally drained after the trials and it was hard even warming up and getting back into the routine.

Although, it is going to be my first Olympics I feel better prepared than last year when I struggled to peak for the World Championships because I ran too many races.

It is also important not to over-train or go any specials diets – if I want a piece of cake I’ll have a piece of cake!

It is also important I put a lid on my training and not do any crazy workouts. Your instincts tell you to train harder but my coach, Dennis Shaver, has to keep telling me rest is crucial at this stage of preparation.

It is obviously going to be my first Olympic Games and I’m really excited. I keep asking athletes who have made the Olympic team. How is it? What is the atmosphere like? What procedures do you have to go through? I’m also really excited to see other athletes in other sports, like tennis, because I’ve never been to a multi-sports competition.

I shall also be looking out for Shawn Johnson, a gymnast, from my home city of Des Moines, Iowa. Iowa has a big send off for the two of us, and it is funny that we are both reigning World champions.

I’ve also noticed since winning the Olympic trials people have started to recognise me. It feels weird people coming up to me when I’ve been shopping and they are offering to buy me dinner.

Also I was at a gas station recently and someone said: ‘Are you Lolo?’ I said, ‘don’t you want to pay for my gas?’ But they kept on moving. It’s pretty cool, though, that America is finally embracing track. Mind you, I still can’t get a date, though.

My mum and sister and her kids are going out to Beijing and obviously everyone has been asking me about my expectations going into Beijing. All I want is to run a clean race like I did at the US trials. I need the complete race.

In Europe I’ve had races partly good and partly not so good. I’ve got to pull it all back together again. It doesn’t mean I have to win in Beijing but I would like a nice clean race.”

Lolo

Strawberry party for Lolo as she prepares for outdoor season – IAAF Online Diaries

World Indoor 60m Hurdles gold medallist Lolo Jones talks about preparing for the new season and her ‘taste of the summer’ at the annual Ponchatoula Strawberry Festival in her latest online diary for the IAAF.

Hi, back again and the first thing I’ve got to say is I can’t wait to start my season at the Drake Relays at the weekend, if only as a break from the training.

Everything is pretty hard core at the moment with the running and the weights. The 6x200m sessions are really tough because I’m expected to run every one quicker than the previous one and I’m on all fours on my hands and knees at the end of each session.

Honestly, the only part of training I normally like is the weights training, but recently I’m not too sure I like that anymore because it has all been so tough.

My training partner Stephanie Durst (a 22.48 200m runner) pushes me hard in training and as you would expect from a 200m runner, she gets the better in the 200m session – but I don’t like to give even half an inch and in the 60m to 100m sessions it is a lot closer, we are very competitive.

Although training is hard at the moment I do like to make sure I do at least one thing each week as a release from the stresses and strains of training.

Last week I bought a kayak and went out on the lakes for a couple hours and I can see myself doing it more often, although mainly in the off season.

I also recently went to the Strawberry Festival at Ponchatoula in Louisiana. Many people associate California with strawberries but Louisiana has some beautiful strawberries, too, and I went along because a sister of a pole vaulter on the team was the Strawberry Queen at the Festival.

It was so nice to go because it felt like a real taste of summer for me. As an American track and field athlete we miss all the summer festivals because we are away racing in Europe, we even miss out on celebrating the fourth of July.

Seeing everyone have fun was great and I’ll definitely try and go again next year. By then I might actually feel like eating a strawberry again.

I bought a crate of strawberries but I’m a little sick of them now, especially as everything at the festival had a strawberry flavour, whether that be strawberry shortcake, strawberry cheesecake even strawberry wine!

But for now I’m looking forward to starting my season at the Drake Relays in my home town of Des Moines. It has a nice Mondo track there and a big crowd and it is one of the few meetings here in America which is close to being like a European meeting.

My eldest brother still lives there and I’ll be meeting with my mum, sister and dad for a real family reunion. I’ll also be giving a talk to my kids at my old High School, Theodore Roosevelt.

But the main aim is to start my season off with a victory in the hurdles where I hope to break my meeting record.”

Lolo