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Olympian Lolo Jones says that being honest about her virginity ‘was a mistake’

Lolo Jones has long been open and honest about being a virgin. But now, the 37-year-old athlete says that her candidness “was a mistake.”

The Olympic hurdler and bobsledder was prompted to talk about the “virgin side” of her life as a guest on the latest episode of Kevin Hart’s “Laugh Out Loud” series Cold as Balls, during which she admitted that being an open book about waiting until marriage hasn’t done good things for her dating life. Instead, she said that her brutal honesty has only hurt her chances of finding a man.

Lolo Jones says that opening up about her virginity "was a mistake." (Photo: Getty Images)
Lolo Jones says that opening up about her virginity "was a mistake." (Photo: Getty Images)

“That killed all my dates after that,” Jones said of publicly discussing her virginity. “Like didn’t even have a chance. Before, at least I had a chance. Before, I’d like, tiptoe. ’Okay, when’s a good time to tell him? Do I wait until he sees my personality a little bit? Or do I just drop the bomb?’”

Jones, who competed in the 2008 Winter Olympics and 2012 Summer Olympics, talked about her decision to wait until marriage during a segment of HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel in 2012.

“It’s just something, a gift I want to give to my husband,” she told Gumbel. “But please understand, this journey has been hard. There’s virgins out there, I’m gonna let them know, it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. Harder than training for the Olympics, harder than graduating from college, has been to stay a virgin before marriage.”

While revisiting the topic with Hart, Jones even said that it’s put her at a “disadvantage” in her sport.

“Having sex actually helps you as an athlete, a female athlete,” she explained. “So I’m running at a disadvantage.”

She even joked about having a “higher level of intensity” because she lacks that “pressure release.”

“Everybody knows me as [being] stressed out,” Jones said.

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