Lolo Jones fights off temptations.
Track star Lolo Jones has handled stiff competition in her athletic career and even a rough upbringing that included living for a time at a Salvation Army. But this sex thing. . . well, it has been more challenging than sprinting around a wet track.
On Tuesday night on HBO’s “Real Sports” Jones talked about her life as an athlete and a woman, including her struggles to remain a virgin.
“It’s just something, a gift that I want to give to my husband,” Jones said. “But please, understand, this journey has been hard.
“If there (are) virgins out there, I’m going to let them know, it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life — harder than training for the Olympics, harder than graduating from college, has been to stay a virgin before marriage.”
She said she does not have a prospective husband; does not have a mate, in fact. But it is not from lack of trying. Jones said she has experimented with online dating services and uses social media tool Twitter in an effort to find a prospective boyfriend.
She might have turned away men when she announced to her thousands of followers on Twitter that she had not had sex.
“I’ve been tempted,” Jones said in the HBO piece. “I’ve had guys tell me, ‘You know, if you have sex, it will help you run faster.’ ”
Jones led the gold-medal final of the women’s 100-meter hurdles at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing before hitting the second-to-last hurdle and finishing seventh. She handled the devastating defeat with aplomb and was admired by fans.
Next month, Jones will make a bid to return to the Olympics during the trials in Eugene, Ore. Qualifiers will compete in London this summer.
