Lolo Jones accuses USA Bobsled of nearly paralyzing her: ‘Completely destroyed me’

Lolo Jones accuses USA Bobsled of nearly paralyzing her: ‘Completely destroyed me’

Multi-sport Olympian Lolo Jones alleged that the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) “stripped my rights, nearly paralyzed me” and denied her medical care after she suffered a spinal cord injury while training in March 2025.

The 43-year-old explained that the USOPC and USA Bobsled “completely destroyed me” in a post on X Wednesday — after she reshared a Substack article by Zielhaus, an independent entity that reports on the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF), that published the injury news on July 23.

The four-time world champ allegedly sustained “brutal lower-back pain, numbness, leg instability, foot drop, loss of bladder control” while testing a new sled in a new racing position for Team USA days before the World Championships in Lake Placid, N.Y.

Lolo Jones reacts after competing in the first round of the women’s 100 meter hurdles on Day Eight of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Track & Field Trials at Hayward Field on June 28, 2024 in Eugene, Oregon. Getty Images

John Faltus, a top official at the USOPC medical clinic, canceled Jones’s massage, which was scheduled at the Olympic Training Center’s sports medicine clinic to treat the injury, without explanation, according to Zielhaus.

Jones was allegedly told that Faltus canceled the treatment because she was only entitled to one massage per week and had already received one that week.

Angry over the situation, Jones admitted to swearing at Faltus.

(L-R) Elena Meyers Taylor and Lolo Jones of the United States celebrate their sixth place win after the 2-woman bobsleigh race at the 2025 IBSF World Championships at Mt Van Hoevenberg on March 15, in Lake Placid, New York. Getty Images

The USOPC has since admitted to wrongfully denying Jones medical care, according to Zielhaus.

Jones raced in the 2025 World Championships and finished sixth with Elena Meyers Taylor in the 2-woman bobsleigh race, despite the painful injury.

Jones said she was “never even given an X-ray or an MRI” by the USOPC, and that she “wasn’t even allowed to use the ice bath to numb the pain.”

Elena Meyers Taylor (center) and Lolo Jones (right) of the United States celebrate their sixth place win after the 2-woman bobsleigh race at the 2025 IBSF World Championships at Mt Van Hoevenberg on March 15 in Lake Placid, New York. Getty Images

After Worlds, Jones paid for an MRI herself and it revealed that she sustained a herniated disc with a disc bulge, tears in her L3, L4 and L5 vertebrae and had spinal fluid leaking out.

While recovering from spinal surgery Jones was informed that the USOPC banned her from the Olympic Training Center in a March 1 notice from Julie Marra, director of the USOPC Training Center in Lake Placid.

Julie Marra, director of the USOPC Training Center in Lake Placid, wrote Jones on March 1 that her conduct violated the OPTC Code of Conduct.

Elena Meyers Taylor and Lolo Jones of the United States compete during the two-woman Bobsleigh heat 2 on day five of the 2025 IBSF World Championships at Mt Van Hoevenberg on March 14, 2025 in Lake Placid, New York. Getty Images

Marra did not cite a specific violation or misconduct, according to Zielhaus.

The ban was still in effect in July, per the Southern California News Group, which reported a partial reinstatement was offered on July 3.

Jones has spent approximately $100,000 of her own money on medical and training expenses due to the suspension, according to Zielhaus.

Lolo Jones attends the Barnstable Brown Gala at Barnstable-Brown Mansion on May 1, 2026 in Louisville, Kentucky. Getty Images

She resorted to pushing a Honda vehicle down a street while training in Louisiana because she did not have access to Team USA’s push track and facilities.

Jones was left off the six-woman World Cup roster announced last fall — with USA Bobsled selecting Sadie McMullen, who finished seventh and spot behind Jones at Worlds.

In her first X post since 2025, Jones said Monday that she “couldn’t talk about this” for months.

“Please someone help stop what they are doing at USA Bobsled,” she wrote, including a screengrab of the Zielhaus Substack.

“Dear USA Bobsled coaches: I did not write the article exposing you,” Jones wrote in another post. “I got a C- in English. I write captions, not investigations.

“But watching y’all play CSI and accuse the wrong people is hilarious. If your detective skills are this bad, it suddenly makes a lot more sense how you picked the Olympic team.”

Jones represented Team USA in bobsled at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, after representing the Americans in track & field at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and the 2012 Olympics in London.

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