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Now that she has failed to medal again, do you think the media hype prior to and during the Olympics has vastly overrated? Especially after how she did at Olympic trials.

She finished 4th in her heat - surrounded by some of the fastest women on the planet.

No, she isn't overrated at all.

4th place in the Olympic finals is nothing to be ashamed of. If you consider that she had spinal surgery a year ago it is rather impressive. I think the press has hammered her a bit unfairly.

If you want to look at it that way, making it to the Olympics is "nothing to be ashamed of."

She did not make the podium.  That is a failure.

If you want to look at it that way, a silver medal is failure.

I think of the thousands of the track hopefuls who don't make it out of their regionals, much less board a plane for the Olympics.

She wasn't a failure at all.  My two cents.

Maine and Phish hit it on the head. After what she has been through and to finish 4th....medal or no medal nothing about that screams failure to me.

Do you consider Ryan Leaf a failure?  How about JaMarcus Russell?  Both of them were starters in the NFL, which is more than 99.blahblah% of football players can say.

Failure is always relative to expectations.  Yes, the woman who finished last in the first Olympic prelim still had a remarkable achievement in simply making it there.  And yes, even the woman who finished last place in the final is faster than anyone any of us will ever know.

But Lolo Jones was not expected to finish fourth.  She was expected to win, or at the very least, medal.  And she did neither, which is a failure.*

If Michael Phelps had finished this Olympics holding a pair of bronze medals, that also would have been a "failure."  And yet, there are plenty of other Olympians on Team USA for whom two bronzes would be an incredibly amazing achievement.  Expectations matter.

*edit: Actually, I have to take most of this post back.  Apparently, Lolo Jones wasn't really expected to do anything at all (link (http://bossip.com/625057/arent-we-on-the-same-team-dawn-harper-takes-shots-at-lolo-jones-for-stealing-all-the-shine/)), and has essentially been elevated to Kournikova/Tebow-status by the media.  So I guess she isn't really a failure if she was being overrated from the start.

I can't say that she's a "Dan O'Brien Failure". But she didn't medal. She's more accomplished than any of us. But the hype surrounding her was overrated.

Just another MEDIA FAILURE.  They like to build people up for their ratings, and if the the people succeed they look great, and if they fail they hammer them for ratings.

Sounds a lot like a certain 2nd string QB in Gotham City...

Harper who won gold in 2008 and silver this year has also overcome injuries and a very poor childhood. She ran in borrowed shoes in 2008.
I think Harper's story is every bit as compelling as Lolo's...minus the 'virgin' thing.

never heard of her.  Can't be that big a deal.

There is a perception (particularly among the black community) that the media is more willing to promote lighter-skinned black women, and that this is a factor in the heavy promotion of Jones over Harper.

Personally, I think the virgin soldier of Christ is the stronger angle, but that's me.

People seem to really like Usain Bolt, and he's as black as night.  Women only?

Primarily women, as women are more frequently judged by appearance more than men are.

Think of how many dark-skinned* black women are popular in the media.  Now eliminate the ones like Oprah and Whoopi who are not famous for any reason related to their looks.  There are not a lot of ladies left.

It is a fairly common belief in the black community that light-skinned women are favored by society.

http://madamenoire.com/87798/light-skinned-women-let-go-of-the-guilt/
http://for-the-masses.com/wordpress/we-are-all-black-but-you-as-a-light-skin-person-are-benefiting-from-light-skin-privilege
http://thegrio.com/2011/12/21/americans-rank-mixed-race-people-ahead-of-blacks-socially/

etc.

*a well-recognized test to determine whether someone is "dark skinned" is to compare them to a brown paper lunch bag (the "paper bag test")

Usain won gold in 2008. He set world records. He was the favorite to win both his races in 2012 and he did.
Lolo only has records indoors and qualified third in US trials. Yet her story has been plastered around for months, even though her teammate had a great hardship/injury story too.
The only difference between their stories is that the popular girl is a 'virgin' and the unpopular girl has a gold and silver medal in consecutive Olympics.

Really? The fact one looks like a beauty contestant and the other wouldn't get a second look in the grocery store is not a difference?

Jennifer Aniston isn't the greatest actress nor is she whiter than Tilda Swinton, who is a great actress, ... but Jennifer will get the publicity every time. Sex sells in womens sports as its why many men will even watch women's sports.

Alex Morgan is already more popular than Abie Wombach because she is hot and yet she hasn't accomplished much compared to Abie. She is a Christian but the"whiter" virgin Christian princess of our women's soccer team is Tobin Heath. Tobin is a very good player too but pales in popularity even though she daily puts out Christian passages and speaks of Jesus on her Facebook and Twitter.

It's funny to many people that blacks would even use shades of black to cry racism. Playing victim all the time is why people turn a deaf ear when anyone cries racism anymore.

CF, there is a difference between racism and colorism; no one is saying that Lolo (or any other light-skinned celebrity) gets more press because they are "less" Black, as most of these lighter-skinned people fully identify (and are identified) as African-American.  And your claim that Lolo gets more press because she is "more attractive" is not really a useful statement when the argument is that lighter-skinned women are favored; you're offering up the effect as the cause.  (Now, I suppose you could make the argument that lighter-skinned women get a disproportionate amount of publicity because they actually are more attractive, but I'm not sure if that would support the color-blind position.)

Furthermore, based on the tone of your response, I feel that something needs to be clarified: this is not "yet another example" of minorities blaming The White Man for Holding Us Down.  Colorism is at least as much of an intraracial phenomenon as it is an interracial phenomenon (I would personally argue much more so).  I would suggest that you read some of the links that I cited earlier; they are almost entirely written from an intraracial perspective.

So your sports comparison is women who play on team sports vs individuals? Because the member of the US woman's soccer team I have heard the most about is Hope Solo. Bring me some examples of individuals who are placed above other women in their chosen sports who have accomplished more.

While it isn't always the case it does happen. Anna Kournikova is the poster child of a person being more popular than her more successful peers based solely on her looks rather than her accomplishments. 

A reason you hear more about Hope Solo than Abie Wambach is her looks. The other reason is her mouth. Hope likes attention.
 

^^^

I'm not sure that's true.  You don't see Hope Solo in a commercial for Gatorade being run on ESPN every other break and I sure didn't see her posing naked in ESPN the magazine.  Unfortunately, they gave us Abby instead.  Abby was the one that ended up at the Title IX celebration, not Hope Solo.   

Also being from her hometown, everytime Abby so much as scratches her ass it ends up on the front page.  The Olympics here were a two week long Abby Fest as far as the paper was concerned. 

Hope Solo was indeed in an ESPN the Body Issue, not sure how you missed it. She has also been on Dancing with the Stars and been the most interviewed member of the team that I have seen.

because I have no clue what she looks like.  All I know is she shoots her mouth off (with a name like hers, it's no surprise she's an attention whore).  Abby's hard to miss though.

^^ Images of Hope Solo (http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=hope+solo&id=DE11883FFF6475E6D72D8912E474ED5ED4CC5954&FORM=IQFRBA)

Yeah, probably not the best example to use in this case. :)

Hope Solo and Alex Morgan are pretty much the darlings of the US soccer team right now and yes it's because of more than just their soccer ability, but that also plays a factor because both are either the best or very close to the best in the game at their position. Sounds like your local news is focused more on Abby because of her ties to the community.

^^^ You have a point there.  If it wasn't for her and anything Syracuse does football or basketball wise the sports page would consist of the baseball box scores and the occasional report from Bills camp. 

I'm not really impressed with what Hope Solo looks like.  If I wanted to waste my time with a group of athletes nobody really gives a shit about I'd go back to watching bowling.  Abby on the other hand up close looks like Justin Bieber on steriods with a bad case of buck teeth.  THe sad part is she has zero ties to the community other than she went to high school here.

The same can be said about Lolo. She is always talking about herself and her virginity. It sells. Her fellow hurdler teammates do not go out and sell themselves and talk about everything....they just win medals.

You know what ... had they of kept quiet after their medals many would have given them due credit. Unfortunately they came off as poor winners when they took to bashing her the following day.

Lolo was "popular" prior to speaking about her virginity. You are a pretty informed guy so I'm not sure why you keep wanting to pretend the media only discovered her the day she announced she was a Christian and is still a virgin. I guess the fact she appeared headed for gold in 2008 but clipped a hurdle was conveniently swept under the rug.

Hope & Alex will make fine soccer moms one day. Just saying.

I both watched and read that interview. The reporter was pushing them to show resentment of Lolo. They did not come out immediately attacking Lolo.
Also after failing to get a medal at Beijing, she dropped out of the media spotlight, and her performance at the Olympic trials was nothing special. What brought her back to the media spotlight was her 'story', her faith, and her virginity. She has sold lack of attaining real success into her sport quite well. She is the next poster girl of the trend that the losers actually do better than the winners.

Dawn Harper "kept quiet" after she won the gold in 2008, and look what it got her: 4 years later, it's still All About LoLo.

Um, the woman who you described as a "poor winner" actually won that gold, yet the story was "LoLo Jones fails to win medal."  And in London, she won a silver and the story was the same thing: "LoLo Jones fails to win medal."  She has every right in the world to be displeased with the disparate media treatment between herself and LoLo.

Attack the media maybe ... not Lolo. That's just silly.

If Usain Bolt (a favorite)  tripped and lost a race then that would have been bigger news than if Gay had won. It's just the way it goes. People love to dwell on the negatives much more than celebrate the accomplishments.

Well, that explains the first race, and you didn't hear Harper say anything after that one.

But the second race, where Harper beat her again, and it's still Lolo this and Lolo that... I understand why both women were a bit annoyed.

Again, it's not like the media is running with this story on their own.  Lolo is the one putting all this information out there and making herself the media darling.  Athletes who want nothing to do with the media... have nothing to do with the media, instead of serving up juicy interest stories.