¶2012OT w100H—Dawn Harper 12.73

[ATK]

random note: Lolo hit the only hurdle in the race. Everyone else and every other hurdle wasn't touched.

[Marlow]

I am not and would never comment on "what race she is", per say. I perhaps wasn't clear on this and I apologize. My point is that white privilege exists, and there is no one, objective standard to judge who is "white" and who is "not white", it is just based on social perception. And in Jones's case it is obvious she benefits from a certain social perception. I don't hold this against her, or I would have to hold it against every white person. But I think it is a legitimate question to ask why certain social groups are over-represented when it comes to the selling of female sex-appeal.

To clarify, this is Lolo and her mom:

http://www.threedifferentdirections.com ... -jones.jpg

[bman]

nicest person ever, after that diatribe, you need to change your handle.

He's allowing Lolo to live in his head rent-free.

I believe NPE is a she (queue cliche cat-fight sound).

Could be. I can't imagine a man being that anti-Lolo.

No he is definitely a dude.

[SevenOf Nine]

I am not trying to be TMZ but I sense some tension between Lolo and Dawn Harper. This reminds so much of Dreamgirls where Lolo is Deena and Dawn is Effie both are good in their own right but ones get overshadowed over the other. Obviously Dawn has been vocal about her being overlooked by the media and I can emphasize with her being disturbed by this constant cheerleading the media has for Lolo. You can also see how Lolo plays the media by playing around with the reporter believe me this woman is not dumb she is getting her 15 minutes of fame and she is really marketing herself to be "Cinderella" of the Olympic games. Dawn can win the gold but let's say the Lolo wins the bronze it is unfair but her face will be on ESPN magazine. Lolo has good PR people and in this day and age of sports being an athlete is one thing but being a business person and branding yourself makes you more of a corporate favorite.

The one thing I should say is Dawn should focus more her sponsorship with Nike to get her face out there. That is what Allyson Felix has done and Dawn has much personality as Lolo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWT4yn9KlZU

[nicest person ever]

I'm a guy.

Kind of a weird guy, but still a guy.

lol

[j-a-m]

Saw the coverage on espn sportscenter a few minutes ago. Really short piece, quickly showing dec, 100, and 100h. Pretty sure the name mentioned most often was Lolo.

[Grasshopper]

I'm a guy.

Kind of a weird guy, but still a guy.

lol

My mistake. No offense intended. I thought I remembered an older post where you described yourself as a female.

[Grazerism]

I am VERY HAPPY for Lolo!! I don't live in the US, so I haven't been very aware of all the tweeting, etc. But I watch a lot of track over here in Europe, so I have seen Lolo SLOWLY move up the ranks of hurdlers, become THE dominant hurdler, and then of course Beijing. Shame on anyone who mentions Kournikova!! The name that should come to mind in talking about Lolo Jones is Gail Devers.

Lolo has also worked in TV as an excellent meet commentator. From this and from her own interviews, I can't see Lolo as "marketing herself". I find her very spontaneous and open. I doubt that she has a manipulative or calculating cell in her body. Her simple heart-on-her-sleeve style may get on some peoples' nerves, and maybe she is OTT with Twitter--but the hostility here is truly unjust.

Let me say that I also love Harper and Wells. But let's be honest, Harper's gold in Beijing is in the same category as Jenny Simpson's in Daegu. I am also very sad for Carruthers. (I would love for the US to have 12 100m hurdlers in London!)

But none of the 12 would have a realistic chance of beating Pearson--assuming that the Aussie doesn't have a Devers/Jones moment!

[SevenOf Nine]

If I were one of the women's 100 hurdles competitors that was not Lolo Jones, I'd be so enraged by disproportionate media hype on her I'd be very unpleasant to be around.

no doubt the top 5-6 women in the event, particularly the 3 that were on the World Championships teams in 2009 and 2011, must have smoke coming out of their ears.

everyone talks about Jones injuries causing her problems, and no doubt these have been major challenges setting her back, but the real problem for Jones is her erratic and inefficient hurdling technique. she also seems like a basket case sometimes.

Jones could lose 1 to 2 tenths of flat speed over the 100 and still[i][/i] improve her 100h time with better technique. it's aggravating to watch her compete sometimes because her technique is glaringly bad.

THANK YOU.

I once talked about what is wrong with Jones' technique here and was roundly criticized.

I am so sick of Jones and all the attention she is getting. And all those commercials etc. are going to look mighty stupid IF (and I believe this to be the case) she does not make the team.The "Olymic Golden girl "who has no medal let alone a gold?

Nice to see Harper speak up-from all accounts she is a lovely person and frankly I find her story much more compelling.


We know why Jones gets more attention.

At least she can't tweet right now.....

Can you please tell me what is wrong with her technique and I mean this from an educational and conversation standpoint. This is not me trying to start a debate.

[AKR]

Mighty impressed with Dawn Harper. She really stepped up to the occasion when she needed it most. She may not be able to defend her title in London but she will definitely medal.

[mump boy]

Oh come on, that's like mump boy's hatred of Derek Redmond.

Are you on crack ??

I LOVE Derek Redmond

(well that's not strictly true i don't have any particular feelings about Derek Redmond personally but this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-MRoIDXeuY is one of my favourite things of all time)

I'll bet Jumbo was thinking of Preston, who has given the clear impression that he loathes the Derek Redmond story and the attention it's given as a source of inspiration.

WOW people confuse me with Preston ?

[mump boy]

Shame on anyone who mentions Kournikova!! The name that should come to mind in talking about Lolo Jones is Gail Devers.

Is this s a joke ?

Lolo has loads more in common with Kournikova then Gail

When Lolo has 3 global sprint titles and World Championship hurdles titles, amongst a hatful of other medals, come back to me with the Gail comparisons.

Until then Lolo will be the pretty girl who gets WAY more attention than she deserves

[nicest person ever]

[Dogfan]

To set Lolo's race straight: human. Also, mother-white, father-black.

[scottmitchell74]

I'm happy for LoLo and do feel bad for Harper due to the lack of attention she gets, which I find puzzling. I've always thought she was very attractive herself. No one has a better smile, for sure. Seems like she would be an easy person to market.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... eDrkpGjRoA

[optimistic]

I am surprised that her flinch didn't cause her to get a bad start.

How is a false start defined? Do they have to move forward for it to be called a false start?

My spouse watches track with me since 2008 and they wondered 'why does she get all this attention, I haven't seen her win one race?' (remember only the 'big' meets are on TV). And because of all the pre-race attention she gets, they also said: 'she's a choker'. So in some ways the attention is working against her because 'nonfollowers' think she should win based on the attention. Then when she doesn't win they figure she must have choked.

[nicest person ever]

If anyone wants to cringe/laugh really hard, check out this post-race press conference vid of Lolo, Dawn, and Kellie from yesterday after the final:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWT4yn9KlZU&feature=plcp

OMG just watch their faces during it lololol soooooo awkward.

Look how pissed off Dawn looks when they keep directing their attention at Lolo for basically the whole first 2 minutes of the conference, and then her semi-sarcastic/cynical smile/wave when they finally acknowledge her when someone asks her a question, and then watch Lolo's face while Dawn talks about how she got ignored (basically saying-without-saying how the media went all lolo-crazy like a bunch of annoying idiots and ignored the fuck out of her when she won Gold in 08) and Lolo is just sitting there all stone faced looking all bitchy about it, and then after that they just go back to Lolo for the remainder of the press conference and you can see Dawn getting more and more irritated the longer it goes on of them all just focusing on Lolo and she just fumbled with her water bottle/clearly wants to get the fuck out of there asap/is super pissed

bwahahaha so awesome...

MAN I freaking hate Lolo

And if you actually listen to the types of stuff she babbles on about during her answers, it just reeks of pure self-center bitchy cringesauce, it's so gross. UGHHHHH

::shakes head in disgust::

[jazzcyclist]

Shame on anyone who mentions Kournikova!! The name that should come to mind in talking about Lolo Jones is Gail Devers.

Is this s a joke ?

Lolo has loads more in common with Kournikova then Gail

When Lolo has 3 global sprint titles and World Championship hurdles titles, amongst a hatful of other medals, come back to me with the Gail comparisons.

Until then Lolo will be the pretty girl who gets WAY more attention than she deserves

I'll give you that Lolo vs Devers is an apples to oranges comparison since Lolo doesn't run the open 100, but when did Kournikova ranked as #1 tennis player in the world or win a world/grand slam title. Lolo may not have won three world title but she has won two (indoor - 2008, 2010) and she did break Dever's indoor American record.

[jazzcyclist]

To set Lolo's race straight: human. Also, mother-white, father-black.

In America, a human with a White mother and a Black father or a Black mother and a White father has always been considered Black. Ask our current President if you don't believe me.

[nevetsllim]

I am VERY HAPPY for Lolo!! I don't live in the US, so I haven't been very aware of all the tweeting, etc. But I watch a lot of track over here in Europe, so I have seen Lolo SLOWLY move up the ranks of hurdlers, become THE dominant hurdler, and then of course Beijing. Shame on anyone who mentions Kournikova!! The name that should come to mind in talking about Lolo Jones is Gail Devers.

I never understand why a comparison with Kournikova is supposed to be disparaging. She was ranked No.8 in the world when the only players ahead of her were all-time greats (Hingis, Davenport, Serena, Venus, Seles, Pierce, Martinez) and she's a former world No.1 in doubles at a time when most of the top singles players used to take doubles seriously. I doubt Lolo has at any time been one of the world's top eight athletes!

Anyway, I'm pleased Lolo's made the team. I really doubted her ability to make it seeing as her form hasn't been great and this event is probably the most competitive on the programme. I don't really think of her as being a hugely clutch performer either so I'm pleasantly surprised she's made it through.

[jazzcyclist]

I am VERY HAPPY for Lolo!! I don't live in the US, so I haven't been very aware of all the tweeting, etc. But I watch a lot of track over here in Europe, so I have seen Lolo SLOWLY move up the ranks of hurdlers, become THE dominant hurdler, and then of course Beijing. Shame on anyone who mentions Kournikova!! The name that should come to mind in talking about Lolo Jones is Gail Devers.

I never understand why a comparison with Kournikova is supposed to be disparaging. She was ranked No.8 in the world when the only players ahead of her were all-time greats (Hingis, Davenport, Serena, Venus, Seles, Pierce, Martinez) and she's a former world No.1 in doubles at a time when most of the top singles players used to take doubles seriously. I doubt Lolo has at any time been one of the world's top eight athletes!

Do you follow track at all? FYI, Lolo was the #1 ranked hurdler in the world in 2008. Kournikova has never sniffed #1, nor has she done anything comparable to Lolo's two world championships. And doubles are as meaningless as relays when talking about an athlete's individual accomplishments.

[nevetsllim]

I am VERY HAPPY for Lolo!! I don't live in the US, so I haven't been very aware of all the tweeting, etc. But I watch a lot of track over here in Europe, so I have seen Lolo SLOWLY move up the ranks of hurdlers, become THE dominant hurdler, and then of course Beijing. Shame on anyone who mentions Kournikova!! The name that should come to mind in talking about Lolo Jones is Gail Devers.

I never understand why a comparison with Kournikova is supposed to be disparaging. She was ranked No.8 in the world when the only players ahead of her were all-time greats (Hingis, Davenport, Serena, Venus, Seles, Pierce, Martinez) and she's a former world No.1 in doubles at a time when most of the top singles players used to take doubles seriously. I doubt Lolo has at any time been one of the world's top eight athletes!

Do you follow track at all? FYI, Lolo was the #1 ranked hurdler in the world in 2008. Kournikova has never sniffed #1, nor has she done anything comparable to Lolo's two world championships. And doubles are as meaningless as relays when talking about an athlete's individual accomplishments.

Don't patronise me. I'm perfectly aware of Jones' achievements. I said 'top eight athlete' as in all disciplines, not top eight in the 100mH, seeing as you can't really compare an event as broad as tennis to something as niche as the hurdles.

[jazzcyclist]

Don't patronise me. I'm perfectly aware of Jones' achievements. I said 'top eight athlete' as in all disciplines, not top eight in the 100mH, seeing as you can't really compare an event as broad as tennis to something as niche as the hurdles.

This "top eight athletes" is something you seem to have made up and I don't what you mean by niche in the context of this discussion. Frankly, I don't know what you're trying to say. Surely you aren't trying to say the since athletes like Sanya Richards, Allyson Felix and Yelena Isinbayeva compete in a "niche" sport, their accomplishments pale in comparison to being ranked as the #8 tennis player in the world, are you?

[nevetsllim]

Don't patronise me. I'm perfectly aware of Jones' achievements. I said 'top eight athlete' as in all disciplines, not top eight in the 100mH, seeing as you can't really compare an event as broad as tennis to something as niche as the hurdles.

This "top eight athletes" is something you seem to have made up and I don't what you mean by niche in the context of this discussion. Frankly, I don't know what you're trying to say. Surely you aren't trying to say the since athletes like Sanya Richards, Allyson Felix and Yelena Isinbayeva compete in a "niche" sport, their accomplishments pale in comparison to being ranked as the #8 tennis player in the world, are you?

I'm not going to embark in this discussion any further because I didn't bring Kournikova into the debate in the first place, nor did I plan for the thread to head in this direction. My comment was supposed to be a minor footnote to suggest how it shouldn't necessarily be seen as a negative or depreciating comparison.

[lapsus]

I wouldn't call Jones a Kournikova-type - for one thing, she may be a bit overexposed now but around 2007-2008, when she was getting into almost-WR form, she was not that visible. Of course she is beautiful but so are many other athletes. Blame the American TV networks for always wanting the Olympic athletes to have some kind of a story in their history - and Lolo has many.

Then again, I wouldn't call Kournikova a Kournikova-type either - she had quite a lot of success, just that the patronising blowhard Phil Hersh-types seemed to affect her self-confidence after a while - and then later of course she really got more interested in her modeling/celebrity than tennis. I was watching an old match that had a young Kournikova a while back, and she had a lot of talent (and beauty that was on a whole other plane as the current "beautiful athletes", of course). What really got me was the snide, patronising commentary - at one point when Kournikova complained about a call to the umpire the TV commenter said something like "she's not used to somebody telling her no"...

Anyway, I think it is good for the mental and physical health of some posters that it is Allyson Felix that is in a tied-for-third situation and not Lolo Jones. Think of the media attention *that* would generate...

[jazzcyclist]

My comment was supposed to be a minor footnote to suggest how it shouldn't necessarily be seen as a negative or depreciating comparison.

But even Maria Sharipova was insulted a few years ago when she was compared to Kournikova, so you know a track athlete would be insulted.

[lapsus]

My comment was supposed to be a minor footnote to suggest how it shouldn't necessarily be seen as a negative or depreciating comparison.

But even Maria Sharipova was insulted a few years ago when she was compared to Kournikova, so you know a track athlete would be insulted.

Well, a comparison to the accepted Kournikova narrative is insulting, of course. But when it happens that some athlete starts to feel overexposed due to their looks, I remind myself that even the narrative-version of Kournikova was infinitely more accomplished than the typical Facebook princess - and handled the situation with more grace.

[Blues]

I think Lolo should have been disqualified for that flinch in the 100m hurdles final. .

I disagree.
She did not move in the blocks. No one on the starting line saw her shoulder twitch.
I doubt any of the starters saw it. In fact, it was probably detectable only on camera.
It was a good even start. The object is to have a fair start, not look for an excuse to DQ.
If you call that, you could call them for breathing in the Set position.

I just watched the race for the first time on youtube. To me her flinch was blatant, and I don't know how anyone could have missed it. I've seen less noticeable flinches result in false starts or warnings numerous times, and was suprised it was ignored in such an important competition. I guess her feet didn't set off the block sensors, but thank goodness nobody else reacted to her flinch and ended up DQ'd because of it, although as was previously mentioned, it still could have been distracting enough to affect the reaction times of other athletes. Also regarding Lolo, Christina Manning also stated that Lolo made some contact with her at times during the race, and that she felt it probably affected her somewhat.

[Jacksf]

It's all about:
1/ looks
2/ looks
3/ personality

[jeremyp]

Everybody complains about Lolo getting too much attention and lo(lo) and behold that's what she's getting from y'all. I'm happy for her getting 3d., but soon they will all be eclipsed by The Pearson tornado.

[Master Po]

As I introduced the Kournikova example, in an aside to the substance of this thread, let me comment, bc several posters whom I read carefully (e.g., Grazerism, jazzycyclist, nevetssllim, lapsus) commented on the Kournikova example, & some have taken umbrage at it.

I didn't mean for this thread to get cluttered w a Kournikova discussion, but bc my posts rarely generate any response, I thought I could offer the example as an instance of a general phenomenon in marketing female athletes. Moreover, because I have the capacity to bore anyone to ... zzzzzzz ... uh what? what was I saying? Oh yeah, let me explain why I, um, served up the Kournikova example:

I did not state or intend to imply anything like Jones = Kournikova. That may be a debate for another forum. I was, however, offering a possible comparison regarding a general point, but "comparison" doesn't mean "equivalence." Rather, there are similarities and differences I can think about to understand something. Each has accomplished something in her sport, & each was/has been afflicted by injuries which limited her athletic excellence, & each has been recognized as a marketing opportunity, and at some point each decided to step into that marketing opportunity & make something of it. No complaints from me on either side. My point was this: Regarding female athletes, marketing often outpaces athletic accomplishment, for reasons (obviously) that have less to do w athletic accomplishment, as that level of accomplishment is relative to other more accomplished athletes in their sport. So, Jones & Kournikova are examples of this. Not equivalent. But they are examples of this phenomenon.

& if you're still awake out there, I appreciate the umbrage where it occurred, bc after all, how often do I get to use the word "umbrage" in a sentence?

We now return to our regular programming.

[GDAWG]

Everybody complains about Lolo getting too much attention and lo(lo) and behold that's what she's getting from y'all. I'm happy for her getting 3d., but soon they will all be eclipsed by The Pearson tornado.

With the way Pearson's been running this year and last year, I would not disagree with that. She has that gold medal barring a major slip up from her (falling over the last few hurdles, injury before the final, false start that gets her Disqualified). If she does slip up though, the field is wide open as any of the other hurdlers could win the gold if Pearson slips.

[TrackDaddy]

I'm not sure how you turn this into another Lolo story or commercial but I'm sure someone is working on it.

[slowjo]

Jones flinched but her feet did not move .

That is why it is not a false start.

There I defended her.....I feel better.

[slowjo]

Everybody complains about Lolo getting too much attention and lo(lo) and behold that's what she's getting from y'all. I'm happy for her getting 3d., but soon they will all be eclipsed by The Pearson tornado.

If you count on US coverage for most of your Olympic viewing (not me thank gawd) then it doesn't matter what Pearson or anyone else does. It will be Jones ad nauseum. She can fall, not get to the finals,or get a medal. It will be all about her.

Love Kellie Wells and she barely got to speak at that conference.

I wonder how many Americans think Lolo is that other Jones.