US Olympian and world champion track star and bobsledder Lolo Jones says the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) and USA Bobsled “risked permanent paralysis” after mistreating her serious back injuries, which she competed with.
Details of the Incident
According to Jones, she broke her back during a “race-off for the USA 1 brakewoman seat” in Lake Placid, New York, “days before the 2025 World Championships.” Jones suffered “brutal lower-back pain, numbness, leg instability, foot drop, loss of bladder control.”
Despite her injuries, Jones was not given proper medical treatment. She was scheduled for a massage with the Olympic Training Center’s trainer, but the appointment was canceled by John Faltus, a top official at the USOPC medical clinic, because Jones was “only entitled to one massage per week and had already received one that week.”
Jones later raced in the World Championships with what was later diagnosed as a herniated disc with a disc bulge and tears in her L3, L4, and L5 vertebrae. She also had spinal fluid leaking out.
Jones says she avoided a life-altering mishap, saying the organizations “nearly paralyzed me.” “Had my pilot hit a wall, I would be paralyzed today. USOPC and USA bobsled put me at major risk and then penalized me for the injury that they gave me testing bobsled for team USA,” Jones said.
Original reporting: Fox News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
