Lolo Jones: US Hurdler Rose to Fame from Impoverished Childhood

For American Lolo Jones, a bunch of hurdles standing just 2'9" high are nothing.

The 29-year-old Jones has been running track at a high level since her high school days in Des Moines, Iowa, but she has been overcoming hurdles her entire life. 

Jones' story, unfortunately, isn't an uncommon one.

With her father out of the picture for the majority of her life, Jones' mother was forced to provide for a family of six. That meant constant relocation and not a lot of money, stable housing, food or anything that a lot of people consistently take for granted.

For instance, when Jones was a child, her family had to live in the basement of a church where she would attend camp during the day. 

The constant unknown of where Jones would find her next meal or next bed only helped light the fire for her to make a better life for herself. 

When Jones started establishing herself as a track star in high school, she refused to be uprooted when it was time for her mother to move once again. Instead of continuing the trend of "new year, new school," Jones decided to leave her mother behind in order to pursue a future. 

In order to do that, Lolo had to live with families of high school friends as she worked her way to a full track scholarship with LSU.

But that was just the first 50 meters of Jones' 100-meter dash through life. 

In 2008, after dominating qualifying, Jones was the favorite for gold in the 100-meter hurdles in Beijing. In the final race, she looked comfortable jumping out to an early lead, but something no one was expecting happened. 

Jones failed to cleanly get over the second-to-last hurdle. She stumbled, and just like that, fell to seventh place.

No gold. No medal. No anything.

That missed hurdle, appropriately enough, served to be another hurdle in Lolo's life. That missed opportunity has often been attributed to Jones' spinal problems, which she had surgery for just eight months ago.

She beat an impoverished childhood to earn an economics degree at LSU. She overcame a lack of quality track equipment to establish herself as the best women's hurdler in the world. She didn't let a devastating loss derail her unrelenting passion. She didn't let back surgery stop her from qualifying for the 2012 Olympics.

Yeah, I'd say the 29-year-old is adept at overcoming hurdles of every variety.  

Lolo Jones is far from a favorite to take home the gold in London this summer, but knowing the hurdles on the track probably look like staples to her by now, it would be a mistake to count the American out. 

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