Criticism
On August 4, 2012 Jones came under heavy criticism from Jeré Longman of The New York Times who maintained that "This was based not on achievement but on her exotic beauty and on a sad and cynical marketing campaign". Janice Forsyth, director at the University of Western Ontario, compared her as the Olympic equivalent to tennis' Anna Kournikova, who had never won a WTA Tour singles tournament but became well-known after appearing in numerous photo shoots and product advertising images.
Jones rejected these criticisms, saying that her critics should be supporting the U.S. Olympic athletes, whereas instead they just "ripped me to shreds". Jones also stated The New York Times did not do its research properly, as unlike Kournikova, she had won several major races, including two world indoor titles and holding the indoor American record.
Read more about this topic: Lolo Jones
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