Lolo Jones Clears Up Paycheck Video, Other Olympians Respond

Lolo Jones has received some heat for posting a video of her $741.84 paycheck from the US Bobsled Skeleton Federation on the popular video sharing app called Vine. She cleared up the incident by explaining her reasoning behind the odd video, but some Olympians aren’t entirely happy with her original decision in the first place.

Jones made a statement through Red Bull about the video on Monday night, saying “I didn’t want to offend anyone, and I’ve always wanted to help out my bobsled teammates.”

“Some of them have debt because they’ve given their life to the sport. My partner Jazmine and I had to raise money for the bobsled to be funded just to finish the season, because only 2 of the 3 sleds are funded by the team,” she added. “I can’t imagine halfway through my track season having to stop and raise money to finish.”

Towards the end of her statement is when the true reasoning comes out, as Lolo Jones explained that she was simply showing the pay difference between track athletes and bobsledders.

“The vine of the paycheck is just showing the difference between track and bobsled, and to be honest bobsledders work more hours than track,” Jones explained. “The bottom line is that all Olympic athletes dedicate their lives to their sports and do not receive lucrative paychecks like athletes in mainstream professional sports. So hopefully this will make people appreciate just how hard Olympians work, often just for the love of the sport.”

Other Olympians have given their opinions on the matter and aren’t too pleased with her decision. Olympic gold medalist Steven Holcomb was lifting weights when he addressed the situation at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid.

“It wasn’t taken very well,” Holcomb said, via USA Today. “People were really kind of insulted. You just made $741, more than most athletes in the sport. So what are you complaining about?”

Do you believe it was a mistake for Lolo Jones to post a video of her paycheck?

[Image via Erik van Leeuwen (bron: Wikipedia)]