was denied medical treatment at the center, according to USOPC documents obtained by the Southern California News Group and confirmed by Jones.

Jones, 42, is contesting the previously undisclosed USOPC suspension, which runs through August 3 and denies her access to training facilities such as the center’s weight room, sports medicine clinic and personnel, and housing and nutritional resources at a critical training period, according to USOPC documents obtained by the SCNG and interviews with Jones and three other people familiar with the case. The suspension has created competitive, financial and emotional obstacles, Jones said, that jeopardize her bid to compete in a fourth Olympic Games next February in Milan-Cortina.

Jones’ suspension continues even though USOPC officials acknowledged she was wrongly denied medical treatment late on the afternoon of Feb. 28, a decision that prompted the verbal confrontation. The USOPC did not interview eyewitnesses, according to Jones, a USA Bobsled and Skeleton official, and two other persons familiar with the case.

Jones, suffering severe pain and incontinence from a training-related back injury, was initially banned from the OPTC sports medicine area on March 1, a day after she called John Faltus, a top official at the USOPC Medical Clinic at the training center, “a horrible f—— human being,” during a verbal exchange after a previously scheduled treatment was canceled without explanation just days before the World Championships in Lake Placid, according to OPTC emails and interviews. Jones confirmed in an interview with SNCG that she swore at Faltus.

Faltus also alleges that Jones made an obscene gesture toward him, an allegation Jones denies.

“This behavior is a direct violation of the OPTC Code of Conduct,” Julie Marra, director of the USOPC Training Center in Lake Placid, wrote in a March 1 email to Jones. “This conduct is unacceptable, and I want to make it clear that such behavior cannot be tolerated.”

But Jones, other Olympians and a USA Bobsled and Skeleton official describe her suspension as excessive, arbitrary, retaliatory and based on little if any investigation by USOPC officials.

“The punishment doesn’t fit the crime,” said a USABS official who asked not to be identified.

USOPC officials have “admitted fault” in denying medical treatment on February 28, according to Jones, a USABS official and two other people familiar with the case.

“We had a 30-minute mediation before worlds where they made me cry,” Jones said. “They admitted that they messed up by not telling me my appointment was canceled and they said that they would change protocols in the future for athletes and at least give them proper time to make adjustments. I said, ‘If you’re admitting you did something wrong, then why are you punishing me and not your provider who did not contact me?’ They were speechless. They said that they were gonna uphold the ban.”

USOPC officials did not interview eyewitnesses to Jones’ exchange with Faltus, according to Jones, a USABS official and two other people familiar with the case.

“You would think you would get it from both sides,” Jones said. “You would get it from the (sports medicine) provider and you would get it from the athletes involved. Instead, what they did is they just took John’s word for it and gave me a life sentence of pretty much this is my last Olympic push.

“So if they can blackball me from having access, they’re putting me in the hole. And they know it. They know it.”

CODE OF CONDUCT QUESTIONS

Jones’ suspension also highlights a pattern of selective enforcement by USOPC officials and a lack of specificity in the OPTC’s Code of Conduct, Jones, a USABS official and other Olympians said.

This past winter, a Team USA winter sport athlete screamed and cursed at a U.S. teammate at an international event, refusing to stop even after being warned by team officials and other teammates, according to two people familiar with the incident.

“The whole team said that it was embarrassing, a distraction to performance, and unacceptable,” said a U.S. Olympian.

Another Team USA winter sport athlete got into a public screaming match with a U.S. coach, according to two people familiar with the incident.

In neither case were the athletes disciplined, according to two people familiar with the situation.

While Marra, in informing Jones of her banishment, said her behavior violated the OPTC’s Code of Conduct, Marra did not cite a specific rule. The OPTC’s 10-page Code of Conduct does not refer to swearing or verbal altercations. The closest the code comes to directly addressing swearing or verbal altercations is one brief passage: “Unacceptable behavior will not be tolerated, including but not limited to, the following: Any act of violation of offenses, as listed in the USOPC Background Check Policy or adjudicated of federal, state, or local laws.”

The OPTC code, the USABS official acknowledged, “is arbitrary.”

“To this day,” Jones wrote in an email to SCNG, “no one has told me: Who found me in violation, what exact rule or code I broke, or what part of the Code of Conduct was allegedly violated.

“They vaguely referred to ‘professionalism’ and a generic code of conduct, but never pointed to a rule in our athlete handbook or safety policies. No one would name who made the decision. The information kept changing. I was never given a formal hearing, never asked for my side, and no witnesses were interviewed. I was banned like a criminal without due process.”

Jones alleged in an interview with SCNG that Faltus also denied her access to treatment last fall, shortly after she returned to bobsled and after she had competed in the Olympic Trials in the 100-meter hurdles.

Jones also alleges that Faltus has banned a female Olympic medalist from the OPTC training room.

“He runs the Olympic training room like TSA,” Jones said. “It’s a power trip for him. In my opinion, he’s not trying to help the athletes. It’s more so like, this is your allotment, and be happy with it. ‘You ungrateful children.’ And a lot of people forget, I’m actually older than John. I am. I am older than him. I am older than the head coach. If you treat me like a child, and I am actually your senior, there needs to be respect both ways. And I think that there’s this perception when the athletes come in, because we do come in on our 20s, that we’re kids, and they keep that perception of us, and we should be grateful, and we should bow down and cater to them. It should be a cohesive system where we are helping each other. You’re helping our bodies, and we’re helping Team USA to get on the podium and get medals for our country. Like we win together, not separate.”

Marra did not respond to multiple messages seeking comment. A person identifying himself as “John” answered a telephone number listed for Faltus’ office earlier this week. When an SCNG reporter identified himself and said he was working on a story about Jones, the person answering the phone hung up without explanation. Faltus did not respond to subsequent messages seeking comment.

Jones has been open about her mental health struggles and a troubled childhood in which her father was in state prison for much of her upbringing, her family experienced homelessness and poverty to such an extent that older family members encouraged Jones as a young girl to shoplift frozen dinners so they could eat.

She was diagnosed with PTSD in 2009, months after leading the 2008 Olympic Games 100-meter hurdles final, before crashing after hitting the ninth of 10 hurdles, slipping to seventh place. Jones has also talked extensively about struggling with suicidal thoughts and depression.

“I think the thing that’s the most frustrating of all this is I have expressed how I’ve had PTSD from this sport,” Jones said. “I’ve been concussed multiple times, you know, I’ve told them how I’ve struggled with depression and to be kicked out like a dog, it’s just, it’s wild to me. It has really affected me in ways I didn’t think could affect me.”

Jones’ background, her injury and the stress of the upcoming World Championships should have been taken into consideration by USOPC officials in disciplining her for her confrontation with Faltus, Jones’ supporters said.

“What concerns me most is that the USOPC and staff are well aware of Lolo’s mental health challenges,” said Katie Uhlaender, a five-time Olympian and two-time world champion in skeleton for Team USA who trains at the OPTC. “This could have been an opportunity to support her — not excuse her behavior, but respond in a way that prioritizes holistic care and helps her get better. Instead, it feels like a missed chance to lead with compassion and accountability.”

SUSPENSION REMAINS IN PLACE

Jones’ access to the OPTC was also revoked as of March 17, Marra wrote in the March 1 email.

During a March 7 meeting in which Jones apologized, Marra agreed to a modified plan in which Jones could “receive medical treatment this week/during World Championships,” March 6-15, according to emails. Jones and Team USA pilot Elana Meyers Taylor finished sixth at the World Championships. Faltus did not attend or participate in the meeting despite being invited.

But the suspension has remained in place. Jones has missed spring training as well as a June Team USA camp with an upcoming camp at the OPTC now also in jeopardy, according to Jones and emails.

“You may have already heard from your lawyer but I heard back from the USOPC yesterday,” Fogt wrote in a June 14 email to Jones. “For this camp in June, they are sticking with the original punishment of no OPTC access or resources during this camp. This includes not being able to see (OPTC trainer) Ben (Towne), or any USOPC providers, even while at the ice house.

“I know this isn’t the information you wanted to hear and am not sure the impact it will have on your decision to attend the performance camp or not. I wanted to make sure we were all on the same page before you made that decision. I’ll continue to talk to the USOPC and advocate for a resolution before the next performance camp in July.”

If Jones wants to attend the July camp, she has to provide and pay for her transportation to Lake Placid and for a rental car once she gets there. She must find housing in the arena because she is banned from staying in the OPTC dorms. She will not have access to sports medicine personnel or facilities or any nutritional support.

“And you know, the craziest thing about all of this is they said, ‘Oh, she can come in for the team meetings, but she’s a threat,’” Jones said. “They said, ‘OK, she can’t come in the OTC because she’s a threat.’ But then the coach was like, well, we have team camps. OK, she can come in for the team meetings. If I am a threat, how can I come in for the team meetings and I can’t go into the weight room, which is right next to the team meeting room? Literally, they are side by side. If I am such a threat? What they’re doing is they’re picking the things that will hurt me the most. They know if I can’t lift weights, it drastically decreases my chance to make the Olympic team.”

‘WHAT IS GOING ON?’

Jones was in severe pain and a heightened sense of anxiety when she walked into the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee Medical Clinic in Lake Placid, New York, shortly before 4 p.m. on Feb. 28 for a previously scheduled treatment session.

It had been a roller coaster of a week for Jones, one of the most recognizable American female athletes this century, a two-time world champion in both the hurdles in track and field and bobsled, whose athletic success has been a springboard to being cast in several reality TV series and achieving a celebrity status rarely obtained by even more decorated Olympic athletes.

The week was, in a way, the start of Jones’ push to make one last Olympic team.

After winning three NCAA titles as a hurdler at LSU, Jones won the 2008 and 2010 World Indoor Championships 60-meter hurdles gold medals. She was the heavy favorite to also capture gold in the 100-meter hurdles at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, only to crash after pulling away from the field.

“You hit a hurdle about twice a year where it affects your race,” she told reporters after the race. “It’s just a shame that it happened on the biggest race of my life.”

Jones was fourth in the 100 hurdles at the 2012 Olympic Games in London before switching to bobsled, winning the mixed team gold medal at the 2013 World Championships. A year later, she was in the two-woman competition at the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi. She teamed with Kaillie Humphries to win the two-woman gold medal at the 2021 Worlds.

That Wednesday in February, Jones was the fastest brakeman in an in-house national team competition and evaluations at the OPTC and had been named to Team USA’s top sled for the World Championships the following week in Lake Placid.

“The day of the evals was an excellent day for me,” Jones said. “That’s so there’s no higher standard test in USA bobsled for the brakeman than evals to determine who’s the best. So on that day, I won, determining I was the fastest brakeman in America. I was put on the USA 1 sled, which means I was put on the fastest sled. They put the fastest brakeman with the best pilot to increase the best chance for medals at Worlds.”

But while testing the following day, with a new sled that the U.S. would use in the Olympic Games in Milan-Cortina this next February, Jones suffered a back injury so severe that she lost control of her bladder in the sled during a test run.

The timing couldn’t have been worse. Not only was Team USA desperate for a worlds medal on home soil, but a poor performance by Jones at worlds could have a major negative financial impact on her going into the Olympic year.

“World Championships, a lot of people think of Olympic athletes as like, ‘Oh, they’re doing it for fun,‘” Jones said. “Well, our health insurance is on the line. So if you don’t compete well at World Championships, your health insurance gets cut. Your stipend to pay your rent for the whole year gets cut. So it’s our job. Like, if you don’t compete well at these championships, your finances take a hit for the next 12 months. So this is not only a health thing, it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, if I don’t get right, I can’t compete, and my budget is going to be severely impacted.’”

Towne, the OPTC trainer, set up an appointment with the sports medicine clinic for Jones to receive a massage, the first step in treating and diagnosing the back injury, according OPTC protocol.

“OK, so he cleared it,” Jones said. “He suggested it, cleared and approved this massage.”

But Jones was informed after arriving at the clinic that her appointment had been canceled without explanation.

“So I did the protocol,” Jones said. “I spoke with the athletic trainer. The trainer approved it. So then when I go to show up on my massage that they schedule me for me for Friday at 4 (p.m.), right before the training center closes for the weekend, I show up to Sports Med, they tell me my appointment was canceled.

“I asked them, ‘Why is my appointment canceled? This is the last chance I have to get treatment before the weekend ends. I’m in severe pain. I’ve peed myself in a bobsled. You’re basically denying me treatment before the sports meds office is closed for the weekend, which means I will have no access for the next two days pain pain-wise, to figure out what’s wrong with me?’”

The secretary told Jones she was not sure why the appointment was canceled.

“So I get frustrated, as I should, as anyone with severe back pain would like, ‘Why did you cancel my appointment? What is going on?” Jones said. “And so she said, ‘John, canceled it.’ John Faltus. And so he comes out, and (I ask) ‘Why was my appointment canceled?’ And I was just like, I’m frustrated. I’m in pain. I’m in severe back pain. I’m stressed out, because I’m like, how am I going to get treatment for the next two days by myself? I have World Championships in seven days.

“So he came out, and I was just like, ‘You’re a horrible f—— human. How could you do this to me?’ And then I walked out, that was it, that’s what I said. I mean, I was so frustrated with him because, like, why wasn’t I notified?”

Although Jones was told Faltus canceled the treatment because she was only entitled to one massage per week and she had already had a massage that week, she said, “I have never received a written explanation for why I was denied medical treatment? This is especially alarming given that I was recovering from an injury I sustained while representing Team USA. The USOPC claims to support athlete health, but in this case, they failed to uphold that duty of care.”

Jones paid to have an MRI done after the World Championships, which revealed a herniated disc with a disc bulge and tears in her L3, L4 and L5 vertebrae with spinal fluid leaking out.

“Meaning, had I competed, had my pilot crashed me at World Championships, I could have been paralyzed,” Jones said. “Had she made an error, I would not be walking today. Thank god. She’s a great driver, and we got through the rounds, but they put me at severe risk to injury. Why? Because I told the provider, you’re a horrible f—— human being for canceling my appointment because I was in pain.”

Jones later underwent a procedure to repair the injuries. The procedure that cost her approximately $22,000 out of her own savings, she said.

Jones has retained John Manly, an Orange County attorney, who on May 12 wrote to the USOPC requesting that the organization mediate Jones’ dispute with the OPTC sports medicine clinic in 10 business days. If they didn’t meet the timeline, Jones would file suit, Manly said.

So far, the USOPC has not agreed to schedule mediation.

BACK ON BAYOU

In the meantime, while her rivals for spots on Team USA are training on the push track in Lake Placid’s ice house, Jones is 1,600 miles away in Baton Rouge, where the only available ice comes in drinks and plastic bags.

Jones estimates the OPTC ban has cost her around $35,000 between medical and treatment bills, travel and housing. She had to fly a physical therapist into Lake Placid to treat her during Worlds.

Her costs would be even greater if she didn’t have access to LSU’s athletic training and sports medicine facilities.

“I have been out of LSU for a while,” Jones said. “I graduated in 2005, that’s 20 years. If I walk into LSU Sports Med right now, and I am an Olympic athlete, and they know I’m currently training, they’ll take me in. I could walk in right now and say, ‘Hey, can I get a massage on my back?’ And they would treat me.

“And I have not been at LSU in 20 years. That’s how well they take care of their Olympic athletes that currently are training, not retired, but current athletes that are training to fight for Team USA and represent their country. Their alumni they take care of. So why at the Olympic Training Center is there a different standard? And I’m in their system, and I’m competing for Team USA.”