3.5 Stars, which I will round down to 3 stars.
I did not have a clear idea of who Lolo was when I picked up this book. I watch the Olympics but, I never followed the track events closely. When I read the info about this book, I thought it might be interesting.
I am not going to say this book is not interesting but, I will say that I was more into the book in the beginning than in the end. When I first opened this book, I was excited to read it. I really liked the idea of Lolo explaining how she came from nothing (extreme poverty, shoplifting to put food on the table, etc) and making it all the way to the Olympics. I thought the story would be inspirational to everyone, even if you are not an athlete. While all of early stories from childhood is inspirational, by mid-book, I started being less interested.
For starters, in the beginning while nothing was "poor me", by the middle of the book it was bordering on "poor me". She did not make enough money as a professional athlete. She feels that the Athletic committees need to do more to support their athletes, while also saying that a professional track and field star (as an example) is all about bringing glory to themselves by going to the Olympics. While I do understand that going to the Olympics does bring light to the country as well, it is also about the athlete. An Olympic title, even just being an Olympian, does travel with you for the rest of your life. Most people will not remember who was on the US Track and Field team going to the Olympics in 2008 but, Lolo will always have the title of "Olympian" because she went to the Olympics in 2008, does that make sense? Lolo compares herself to NFL players making a lot of money quite often here. It is like apples and oranges. People all over the world watch NFL seasons. That is Billions in endorsement deals during football games so, yes, football players, hockey players, and baseball players do become millionaires from their sport. But, no one is having tailgate parties for track and field events (I don't think so, anyway). It is a different sport. While both are difficult, one of them gathers a lot more attention than the other. Fair, perhaps not. Sad, but true. Devoting an entire chapter to money seemed out of place here.
Secondly, Lolo lost the Olympics in 2008. It is a hard fact and one that Lolo says several times that she has dealt with personally and professionally. However, she keeps bringing it up as if to remind her reader that she was the favorite to win that Olympics and it just did not work out. I get it, probably very upsetting to lose the goal medal, but if you are really past it, then stop repeating it. Like others have said in their reviews, much of this book seems to go back to that event. Even when Lolo talks (briefly, very briefly) about moving into Bobsledding, it is still related back to the 2008 Olympics.
Lastly, while I understand this book to be Lolo's story but also inspirational with tips and tricks for the reader, I do think it was a lot about God. I am not knocking Lolo's beliefs, or the fact that she is very firm in her Christianity. I respect her stance on relationships, especially her stance on remaining a virgin until marriage, but I do think that many people would not enjoy direct passages taken from the Bible to highlight every point made. I think you can have a strong belief in God, and be firm in your Christianity, without driving it down your readers throats.
That being said. I did enjoy this book. I will not hang onto it but, I am glad I read it. When I first started it, my rating was much higher than what it turned out to be. Just not the book for me but that is okay.