Lolo Jones makes US bobsled team

Lolo Jones is officially an athlete for all seasons.

The two-time Olympic hurdler was one of 24 athletes announced Thursday as members of this season's US bobsled team. This gives Jones the chance to compete in the World Cup circuit this winter and possibly represent her the USA at the 2014 winter Olympics in Sochi.

Jones told the Associated Press, "This is a breath of fresh air — cool, very cool, cold air."

Jones will join 2010 Olympic bobsledder Emily Azevedo, world championship medalist Katie Eberling and track and field athletes Tianna Madison, Aja Evan, Elana Meyers, who had a bye onto the team because of her bronze at worlds last season, Jamie Greubel and Cherrelle Garrett for the US team, according to USA Today. 

Todd Hays, the US bobsled coach, recruited the track and field athletes to the sport this fall. He told USA Today, "Lolo and Tianna accepted the challenge to compete for a spot on the team, and they did an incredible job. They are just tenacious competitors that want to win at everything they do. It wouldn't matter if it was ping pong, checkers or bobsled, they still want to be the best."

Jones became a media darling in the last two summer Olympics, but faced harsh criticism for failing to deliver a metal in either. Hays told reporters that he ignored the media's version of Jones and waited to judge the real thing.

"I didn't have a lot of time to get to know Lolo through the media," Hays said. "These three weeks, I've gotten to know her as an athlete. And she surprised me every day with how dedicated she is. The one word I keep coming back to is, she's such a competitor. She cannot accept not being good at something. She gets up earlier than everybody else, goes to bed later, constantly trying to get better."

According to ESPN, Jones still plans to tryout for the hurdles for the 2016 Rio Olympics.