My heart aches for Lolo Jones. But I also admire her very much. In the races that preceded this one, she was a joy to watch. After suffering this terrible disappointment, she endured the brutal inanity of the "Tell us what you feel right now" NBC post-race interview with astonishing grace and poise, and was among the first to congratulate those who won. For NBC's zoom lens to follow her as she slipped away to a corridor for a few moments of private grief was unconscionable. But I have to admit that one of the iconic moments of this Olympics for me will always be the picture of this beautiful young woman leaning against that concrete wall, head back and eyes closed, sobbing quietly over the lifelong dream that had just slipped away forever.

I was and am very proud to have her represent America. She came up short as an athlete this time, but as a human being, under pressures the rest of us can only imagine, she showed immeasurable courage, integrity, and grace. I won't soon forget Lolo Jones.

I'm with the few other posters who have expressed their horror at the interviewing skills of the NBC news team. I have been over and over again appalled at the awkward, redundant and emotionally tone-deaf questions of newscasters to the athletes. Like that poor girl on the women's gymnastics team who was pressing her lips together, trying to hold back her tears as Andrea Whatever-her-name-is kept asking the same question over and over. It was like watching someone poke a stick at a hurt bird.

Nobody is saying that Lolo Jones deserves an Olympic medal. She lost, fair and square. That said, some of us don't feel the need to shit all over her because she tripped on a hurdle. I'm disappointed in her defeat and still proud that she represented my country. Is that so hard for you to understand?

It would have been okay if you had titled your article " Lolo Jones' Olympian Disappointment " But "failure"? All sugary bubble gum ideals aside - I'd give Lolo a gold for grace under disappointment. After her initial shock and frustration she responded to the press with grace and poise - not at all like some other athletes I won't name here who seethed anger and negativity.

You go Lolo. THAT is what the Olympics are supposed to be about.

Lolo Jones is critical to the Olympics.

It is what she -- any many others -- demonstrate that makes them so special. These people care deeply about their performances. They are driven and devoted. Their wins are special. Their losses are human.

I admire Shawn Johnson for her composure when disappointed. I don't admire the petulent responses of many other athletes, even those whose athletic performances I DO admire. I admire the celebrations of athletes like Dawn Harper, but not that of Mr. Bolt -- who did not wait to finish his race before showing off.

But what really gets me is what athletes do in loss. That is where the show their humanity, and their human greatness. Derek Redmond showed his determination. Lolo Jones showed her devotion, and her class.

I want to see that athletes care. I want to see that it matters to them. And I respect them all the more for trying to keep it private and trying to do and say the right thing in public. These are people who have been trying to be something, and when they fail at that, they still try to be the person that they want to be. In their toughest moments, they show who they are.

I don't feel that showing children's disappointment is right, generally. But Olympic athletes, and professional athletes, show off their performance and their response. That's the deal. That's why we love them or hate them. That's why they get paid, in money or otherwise. They are a kind of entertainer, in the best kind of reality show. Moreover, they always have been.

And so, I feel for Lolo Jones, who showed her own greatness, even in loss. But, I don't condemn NBC for showing her from a distance. It's the Jim "Let me pour salt in your wound, and please tell American how it feels" Grey moments that I think go too far.

Let's just randomly pluck the most Oprah friendly human interest story and run with that as if the games were held (but they're not because they might not turn out to be Lifetime Movie Network compliant). There is nothing heroic in failure. Bathos, yes, but heroic? No.

I felt really bad for Lolo Jones. I've been watching hurdlers for 45 years; have been to the Drake Relays, the Penn Relays, etc., and I have never seen any hurdler, man or woman, who had better form going over the hurdles than LoLo.

Her lead legs skims the hurdle, and once her toe is over she postively flows over the hurdle, with a trailing leg so flexible she actually appears to accelerate over the hurdle.

She had been flawless in the qualifying heats, with each race running the same way: a bit behind at the start, and then with each hurdle her superior technique allowing her to pull away from the field.

One tiny mistake, and her hopes were shattered. I hope she takes heart from 41-year-old swimmer Dara Torres and 33-year-old gymnast Oksana Chusovitina and comes back to the London games. She's the smoothest I've ever seen.

My heart is still breaking for her.

@ James T. Kirk,

To educate the ignorant, Special Olympics doesn't give medals or ribbons to every competitor. At the Summer Games in Long Beach, CA, my daughter won a gold and a bronze in swim events. In common with Olympic athletes, Special Olympians would never make the kind of cruel comment that you made. How to ridicule thousands of athletes in one short sentence.

... the video of this race, it strikes me that the real issue is that Lolo is a looker and the US woman who actually won the race is not.

Similarly the US favorite for the women's 400 meters was rather glamous and mysteriously clad in arm's length gloves, yet fell at the last hurdle (so to speak) whereas Christine Whatshername the British winner, looked decidedly masculine, not to mention having a strong suspicion of a drugs history.

The moral of the story is possibly that the extra weight of the expensive hair weaves, make-up, jewelry, and fancy gloves can make the difference between victory and defeat.