Hurdler Lolo Jones breaks down in tears discussing media scrutiny of her [video]

Hurdler Lolo Jones took 4th place in the 100 meter hurdles on Tuesday. There were high expectations for Jones after Beijing and some, including the New York Post, felt too much attention was being paid to her for superficial reasons.  Jones sat down for an interview with The Today Show on Wednesday morning to discuss her broken heart and how it felt to have the media “rip her to shreads” two days before one of the biggest races of her life.

“They should be supporting our U.S. Olympic athletes and instead they just ripped me to shreds. I just thought that that was crazy because I worked six days a week, every day, for four years for a 12-second race and the fact that they just tore me apart, it was just heartbreaking,” Jones said.

“They didn’t even do their research, calling me the Anna Kournikova of track. I have the American record. I am the American record holder indoors, I have two world indoor titles. Just because I don’t boast about these things, I don’t think I should be ripped apart by media. I laid it out there, fought hard for my country and it’s just a shame that I have to deal with so much backlash when I’m already so brokenhearted as it is.”