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Lolo Jones selected for US Bobsled team

Sports

January 20th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

Lolo Jones talked Lauryn Williams into trying bobsledding, dangling the potential of another Olympic trip as her bait. Little did they know they were talking about history. Jones and Williams — both Summer Olympic veterans — were among the selections Sunday night for the U.S. Olympic bobsled team, putting them in position to join a very exclusive club. Barring something unforeseen, they will become the ninth and 10th Americans to compete in both the summer and winter versions of the Games when they compete at the Sochi Olympics next month.

Jones, Williams and Aja Evans were the three women chosen out of a six-woman pool for the push athlete spots, that word coming at a team meeting where half the candidates saw their Olympic dreams realized and the other half saw them come to a quiet end. Jones was one hurdle away from winning gold at the Beijing Olympics, then finished fourth at the London Games. Looking for a break from the spotlight but not sports, she turned to bobsled in the fall of 2012, winning a World Cup medal in her first race and quickly announcing herself as a legit Sochi contender.

Then she recruited Williams after the 2012 400-meter relay gold medalist and former world champion sprinter retired from track, talking her into the bobsled game. And all Williams has done as a rookie is help the U.S. win three medals in her four World Cup races, including a gold on Sunday. Jones and Williams will join Evans, another Winter Olympic first-timer, and drivers Jamie Greubel, Elana Meyers and Jazmine Fenlator on the women’s team.

The U.S. qualified three men’s two-man sleds and two four-man sleds for Sochi. Reigning Olympic four-man champion Steven Holcomb will drive USA-1 and Nick Cunningham will be at the control of USA-2 in four-man. Cory Butner will drive the other two-man entry. Justin Olsen, Johnny Quinn and Dallas Robinson will push Cunningham’s four-man sled.