LONDON---The first hint of how hurdler Lolo Jones was feeling about Tuesday night’s race came in the early morning hours Wednesday, via her own Twitter account:
@lolojones Stressed.5am no sleep post race. Almost went @britneyspears on ya & shave my head til I read ur tweets. Thx 4 lifting me up during this time
The words went out to her nearly 275,000 Twitter followers. Then her words -- and tears -- went out to millions of TV viewers when she appeared on NBC’s “Today” in an interview with Savannah Guthrie.
They talked about her fourth-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles at the Olympics.
“I was crushed afterward,” Jones said. “I know I had the best race of my season, not the best race of my life. I had the best race of my year.... It doesn’t take away from the pain, I was so close to once again having a medal and not getting it.”
About two-plus minutes in the interview, she was asked about a recent New York Times article and that’s when Jones became emotional. Wednesday, a writer from Mother Jones characterized the story as a “crazy misogynist hit piece.”
Jones used the words “crazy” and “heartbreaking.”
“I think it was crazy just because it was two days before I competed and then the fact it was from a U.S. media” outlet, she said. “They should be supporting our U.S. Olympic athletes.
“And instead they just ripped me to shreds. I just thought that it was crazy because I work six days a week, every day for four years for a 12-second race.
“The fact they just tore me apart, it was just heartbreaking. They didn’t even do the research. Called me the Anna Kournikova of track. I have the American record. I’m the American record-holder indoors.... Just because I don’t boast about these things, I don’t think I should be ripped apart by media.”
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