Lolo Jones Makes US Bobsled Team

From hurdles to ... bobsledding? Yes, Olympian and famous virgin Lolo Jones showed up in Lake Placid three weeks ago, unsure where her first foray into bobsledding could lead. The answer might be another Olympics—only this time, the winter one. Jones, a two-time Olympic hurdler, was one of 24 athletes announced yesterday as members of this season's US bobsled team, something that gives her the chance to vie for a spot on the World Cup circuit this winter and, possibly, represent her country at the 2014 Sochi Games.

It was US women's bobsled coach Todd Hays who set this idea in motion when he invited Jones and two other US track Olympic veterans to the bobsled push championships earlier this month. Hays wanted to have accomplished athletes around his bobsled team to raise morale, and also wanted to see if he could strike gold by tapping into the track world—as bobsled has done countless times in the past—to find someone strong and speedy enough to push sleds and get them moving down the icy chute. Jones still plans to compete in hurdles at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. (More Lolo Jones stories.)