U.S. Olympic hurdler Lolo Jones sent a harsh message to paralyzed former Rutgers player Eric LeGrand on Tuesday, causing a stir on Twitter after he made a joke challenging her to a race.
The whole controversy began after LeGrand sent a tweet to Jones saying, "want to race me?", after which Jones replied "Get Checked for a concussion. Clearly, u've been hit in the head... Cos u arnt beating a track athlete."
Jones hadn't realized that LeGrand was paralyzed, although his picture on his Twitter handle and his background clearly show him a wheelchair. His biography on the website describes him as a "Defensive Tackle for Tampa Bay Buccaneers."
Jones realized her mistake and responded: Great I'm gonna get murdered for that tweet. When I had no clue who that dude was.Just responding to any athlete who challenges me to a race."
LeGrand was playing for Rutgers in 2010 when he suffered two broken vertebrae and a spinal cord injury while covering a kickoff return against Army. His former coach, Tampa Bay head coach Greg Schiano, signed LeGrand to a contract with the team earlier this year.
Later on, LeGrand responded, brushing the whole thing off, saying: "didnt take it personal,understand where ur coming from.All good."
"Thx," Lolo wrote back. "Getting trashed by tons of ppl glad ur not one of em."
Jones is a well-known hurdler for the U.S. Olympic team, but has still yet to achieve success on the grand stage. She finished fourth in the 100-meter hurdles at the London Olympics and finished 7th in Beijing after clipping a hurdle in her race.
This isn't the first time Jones has sent out a Twitter message without thinking. Earlier this year she sent out a tweet saying "when's da gun shooting competition," referencing America's love of guns just eight days after the deadly Aurora, Colorado shooting.
Jones has been criticized for getting massive media attention but not performing at the highest level. She has brought a lot of it on herself, proclaiming to the world that she is a virgin and also bringing attention by crying on the Today show after the Olympics.
After everything died down, Jones released a statement to Yahoo Sports stating: "I'm truly sorry if I offended anyone by my tweet. When Eric challenged me to a race earlier all I knew was that he was a football player, but certainly had no idea he had become paralyzed from a football injury. I thought I was tweeting in good fun like I always do with the many athletes who challenge me to races."
Obviously Jones got caught up in a controversy without realizing it due to the fact that she didn't know LeGrand, but it also shows the harsh realities of instant responses on Twitter. While Jones didn't mean to hurt anyone, she clearly could use to think before she speaks, even if it is just for a few minutes.
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