Lolo

[bsmooth]

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.

[MaineDolFan]

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

No, she isn't overrated at all.

[Phishfan]

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.

[Spider-Dan]

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.

[Phishfan]

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

[MaineDolFan]

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.

[AZ Fins Fan 55]

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.

[Spider-Dan]

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), 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.

[el diablo]

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.

[masterfins]

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.

[el diablo]

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

[bsmooth]

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.

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.

[BigDaddyFin]

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

[Spider-Dan]

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.

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.

[Dave Gray]

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