From Students to Sochi: Lolo Jones' tenacity showed early on, before hurdles and bobsled success

Cortez Nichols vividly remembers bringing hurdles to the home where Lolo Jones was staying.

The longtime youth track and field coach in Des Moines, Iowa, would leave the hurdles for his 13-year-old pupil, who wanted to practice as much as she could since she was new to competing in track. Jones would set up the three hurdles in the alleyway behind the home and diligently work on what quickly grew into her passion.

That passion has driven Jones over the years and helped her become one of the most famous American hurdlers in the event's history. Jones competed in the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics (placing seventh and fourth, respectively, in the 100-meter hurdles), and now will get a chance in this year's Winter Olympics, competing in her newest venture: Bobsledding. The women's bobsledding competition begins Tuesday morning in Sochi.

"She was so dominant," Nichols said about Jones' high school track career. "She had speed that you just don't get all the time. She was just one of those natural athletes."

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During her days in junior high school and high school, Jones competed for the Des Moines Area Youth Track Club in the summer – where she was able to face a higher competitive level on the national scene -- and ran for Roosevelt (Des Moines, Iowa) during the school year.

Jones, who is now 31, didn't have a very stable family situation growing up. With her dad in the Air Force and spending a stint in jail, Jones attended eight different schools in elementary school and middle school. When Jones' mom – who was raising five kids on her own -- wanted to move again, Jones was adamant she wanted to stay at Roosevelt High School, where she could pursue her hurdling dream. Des Moines Area Youth Track Club head coach Phil Ferguson helped line up host families for Jones to stay with during her years in high school.

Track was a way for Jones to escape from it all.

"She was always really intense in track," Ferguson said. "She figured out that was the way for her to get out of the position that she was in."

As a teenager, Jones was fast and athletic – two key components to any good hurdler.

"She was raw, but she had a little bit of speed," said Nichols, who worked with Jones off and on for six years. "Anybody that's going to do hurdles has to have a little bit of speed."

Ferguson recalls helping Jones get prepared for her freshman track season in high school.

"At that time, she was pretty slim and didn't really have any good shoes to train in," Ferguson said. "As a matter of fact, we probably wouldn't have looked at her as one of our best sprinters at that time. Of course, she was new to the sport and she fell in love with hurdling."

Jones' coaches saw a lot of potential early on, especially in the 100-meter hurdles. It didn't take her long to pick up the nuances of hurdling and get down the rhythm of leaping over the hurdles in stride.

"I can remember moving her back off the hurdle a little bit, she was so close. She just took off with that," Nichols said. "You weren't going to beat her. And she had that in her mind and she proved it in all her races."

"We had to be worried about her trail leg because she almost ran over those hurdles with that trail leg like she was running," Ferguson said. "So after her freshman year she developed that a lot better and before you knew it she was practicing those hurdles and she wouldn't miss those for anything."

According to Nichols, Jones placed at a national meet in Houston during junior high school. It would be the first of many medals.

As a freshman in high school, Jones qualified in two events for the Iowa state meet in Class 3A, comprised of the state's largest schools. She placed third in the 100 hurdles (14.9 seconds) and was a member of the sixth-place 4x100 relay team.

The next year, Jones won the 100 hurdles (13.78) and anchored the 4x100 relay team to victory. She was also second in the 100 (12.38).

During her junior season, Jones was hampered by a hamstring injury and despite making it to state in the 100 and 100 hurdles, she failed to medal. Jones followed with a phenomenal summer in the Des Moines Area Youth Track Club.

"In her junior year, she finished fourth in the nation in the 100 hurdles and each year she got better," Ferguson said. "She was always determined to do her best. She saw the goal of getting to college free by being able to do well in the hurdles."

As a senior, Jones went out on top, winning state titles in the 100 hurdles (14.03), 100 (12.24) and 200 (25.31). She was named the Gatorade Midwest Athlete of the Year and broke the Iowa state record in the hurdles at 13.4 seconds.

After graduating from Roosevelt in 2000, Jones went on to a phenomenal track career at Louisiana State University, being honored as an 11-time All-American.

Jones' determination made her such a great runner, Ferguson said.

"Always wanting to learn, always wanting to practice, always wanting to be the best," Ferguson said. "That was her specialty and no one was going to beat her in that one."

After failing to win a gold medal in the 2012 Summer Olympics – finishing a disappointing fourth in the 100 hurdles -- Jones traded in the polyurethane running track for an icy sledding track. Jones didn't know much about bobsledding, but she had immediate success. In October 2012, she was named to the U.S. National Team and 15 months later she was named to the U.S. Olympic Bobsledding Team. Jones and bobsledding teammate Lauryn Williams – a three-time Olympic sprinter – will be the ninth and 10th Americans to compete at both the winter and summer editions of the Olympic Games.

Ferguson is confident that Jones wouldn't have made the move to bobsledding if it didn't help her in her quest in the hurdles. Jones' ultimate goal is still to bring home gold in her favorite sport.

"She probably wanted to take a break from track and field and still stay competitive and in shape for track and field," Ferguson said. "No. 2, I think bobsledding, from a coaching standpoint, helps her in regards to the starting part of her race in the hurdles."

"She's determined," Nichols said. "If she can't make it in one area, she'll go to another. … I love kids that are like that, who are determined. She wants a medal. She wants an Olympic medal. I applaud her for that."