Lolo Jones can now add bestselling author to her list of accomplishments along with Olympian, Big Brother, and The Challenge star. She’s now celebrating the success of her recent release.
Her new book Over It recently topped several bestseller lists on Amazon, giving the former Double Agents rookie plenty of reason to be excited just days after it came out.
The Olympic athlete celebrated the achievement by using a recently popular viral clip on her social media, which involves a group dance in unison.
Over It details Lolo Jones’ struggles, using spirituality with challenges
In her new book Over It, Lolo Jones isn’t necessarily talking about all her achievements or big successes. Instead, she sheds light on many of the struggles she encountered and how spirituality has aided her during those struggles.
For example, the book touches upon her coming close to capturing her first Olympic gold medal over 10 years ago in Beijing. However, a “millisecond mistake” cost her the win.
The book also spotlights how Lolo grew up in a broken home, learned to shoplift, and had to sleep on the basement floor of the Salvation Army.
By sharing her own struggles and how her spiritual beliefs helped her advance despite setbacks, Lolo hopes to inspire readers to do the same.
Lolo chose The Challenge during pandemic, now headed to Olympics
She’s appeared on several reality television shows involving competition, including Celebrity Big Brother and The Challenge. She had her first taste of The Challenge with Champs vs. Pros, a spinoff season on MTV. She then popped up amongst the rookie cast members for Season 36 of MTV’s regular series, The Challenge, called Double Agents.
The season was filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic, so it presented many challenges in terms of filming and for the competitors. Some cast members found it a struggle to be within the house and the game, though.
Jones, 38, chose to appear on MTV’s The Challenge during the pandemic due to the lack of other athletic competition at the time. She lasted over half the season before opting to leave the show on her own. Later she opened up and suggested she was forced to quit by production, which has yet to be confirmed.
Jones shared she was planning to compete at the Tokyo Games in hurdling but had to shift her plans due to the pandemic.
“It completely shut me down and changed my whole course,” Jones said, per Beloit Daily News. “I was training for my last summer Olympics; I was planning on being currently retired.”
She’s now looking towards Beijing for the Winter Olympics in February 2022, where she’ll compete in bobsledding. Lolo’s previous mishap, where she nearly won gold in the 100-meter hurdles at the 2008 Summer Olympics, also took place in Beijing.
Lolo celebrates getting bestseller list top spot after book release
Lolo’s book was just released on Tuesday, July 20, and it’s already become a bestseller on several different lists via Amazon.
On Tuesday night, Lolo posted a popular viral dance clip on her Instagram that became popular on the TikTok app. In the clip, Lolo is at the forefront of a group of dancers swaying in unison to a song.
“When you have the #1 bestseller sports biography on Amazon,” the former Double Agents star wrote near the top of the clip.
“THANK YOU FOR AN INCREDIBLE BOOK LAUNCH DAY!!! ?? I’m honored to have you guys read and check out my book. Thank you! thank you! THANK YOU!!” Lolo wrote in her IG post’s caption.
Lolo’s book has since fallen to second place on that list behind Giannis: The Improbable Rise of an NBA MVP by Mirin Fader. The Milwaukee Bucks captured the NBA Championship on Tuesday night, with Giannis Antetokounmpo winning the MVP Award.
Meanwhile, Lolo’s book has the top spot on the Olympic Games bestsellers list and is also seventh for Christian Self Help books. With Lolo preparing to potentially claim her first gold at the Olympics in February 2022, she’s likely to sell a few more copies.
The Challenge: Spies, Lies & Allies premieres on Wednesday, August 11 at 8/7c on MTV.