Lolo Jones tells HBO's Real Sports that she will remain a virgin until marriage

The 29-year-old Olympic athlete told the program remaining a virgin is even harder than Olympic training

Lolo Jones, the U.S. Olympic athlete and Des Moines native, told HBO’s Real Sports that she is saving her sexuality for her future husband. The young, talented, famous, and beautiful Olympic athlete is, in fact, a virgin.

Lolo Jones opened up about her past in an interview with HBO’s Real Sports in which she spoke of a troubled youth and her reasoning for remaining a virgin as she nears her 30th birthday.

Lolo Jones admitted she is saving her sexuality for her future husband “as a gift.” Jones added that she hopes her story proves an inspiration for other virgins in the world who feel the pressures of a highly-sexualized society.

“But please understand, this journey has been hard. If there’s virgins out there, I just want to let them know, it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. Harder than training for the Olympics, harder than graduating from college, has been to stay a virgin before marriage.”

“I’ve had guys tell me, they’re like, ‘Hey, you know if you have sex, it will help you run faster.’” Jones told Real Sports, adding her typical response, “If you marry me, then yeah.” Jones also spoke of using online dating services and social media, specifically Twitter, to find a potential husband. Lolo Jones announced her virginity to her Twitter followers earlier this year.

Lolo Jones also opened up about her adolescence and her role as a self-described “professional shoplifter.” Lolo Jones told ESPN, “I definitely would say, by sixth grade, I was a professional shoplifter – and not because I wanted to. I’m not going out to shoplift earrings or clothes or shoes like the average teenager.”

“I was shoplifting frozen dinners at a grocery store. I could shoplift four frozen dinners, easily.”

According to Lolo Jones, it was experiences such as shoplifting, embarrassment over living in the Salvation Army and her family’s use of food stamps helped the shape her incredible will to succeed.

Lolo Jones will be competing in the upcoming 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Her trip to Beijing in 2008 resulted in a disappointing seventh place finish in the gold-medal final of the women’s 100-meter hurdles.