After Lolo Jones tearfully claimed on TODAY Wednesday that she was “ripped to shreds” in a recent New York Times piece, the Times’ public editor called the story “too harsh’’ in an article on Thursday.

Public editor Arthur S. Brisbane, who is the “readers’ representative” at the Times, wrote on Thursday that “in this particular case, I think the writer was particularly harsh, even unnecessarily so.’’ The piece on Aug. 3 by staff writer Jere Longman, “For Lolo Jones at the Olympics, Everything is Image,’’ argued that Jones is more sex appeal and media hype than substance.

In the story, Longman quotes the director of the International Centre for Olympic Studies comparing Jones to former tennis professional Anna Kournikova, who was known more for her good looks than anything she did on the court.

“This piece struck me as quite harsh and left me, along with others, wondering why the tone was so strong,’’ Brisbane wrote.

After finishing a disappointing fourth in the 100-meter hurdles on Tuesday, Jones addressed the Times story on TODAY Wednesday.

“I think it was crazy just because it was two days before I competed, and then the fact that it was from a U.S. media,’’ Jones told Savannah Guthrie before fighting back tears. “They should be supporting our U.S. Olympic athletes and instead they just ripped me to shreds. I just thought that that was crazy because I worked six days a week, every day, for four years for a 12-second race and the fact that they just tore me apart, which is heartbreaking.

“They didn’t even do their research, calling me the Anna Kournikova of track. I have the American record. I am the American record holder indoors, I have two world indoor titles. Just because I don’t boast about these things, I don’t think I should be ripped apart by media. I laid it out there, fought hard for my country and it’s just a shame that I have to deal with so much backlash when I’m already so brokenhearted as it is.”

Since the article appeared in the “In the Rings’’ section of the Times’ Olympic coverage, it was intended as an opinion piece and not a straight news story, according to Brisbane.

“One person’s harsh is another person’s tough minded,’’ the Times’ sports editor told Brisbane. “(Longman), while acknowledging Jones’s accomplishment and qualities of perseverance and candor, thinks this female athlete fell short.’’

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Nursing a broken heart from a disappointing fourth-place finish in Tuesday’s 100-meter hurdles, an emotional Lolo Jones fired back at her critics on Wednesday.

Jones opened up about a Saturday New York Times piece that compared her to Anna Kournikova, the former tennis pro known more for her good looks than her accomplishments on the court. 

“I think it was crazy just because it was two days before I competed, and then the fact that it was from a U.S. media,’’ Jones told Savannah Guthrie before fighting back tears. “They should be supporting our U.S. Olympic athletes and instead they just ripped me to shreds. I just thought that that was crazy because I worked six days a week, every day, for four years for a 12-second race and the fact that they just tore me apart, which is heartbreaking.

“They didn’t even do their research, calling me the Anna Kournikova of track. I have the American record. I am the American record holder indoors, I have two world indoor titles. Just because I don’t boast about these things, I don’t think I should be ripped apart by media. I laid it out there, fought hard for my country and it’s just a shame that I have to deal with so much backlash when I’m already so brokenhearted as it is.”

On Tuesday night, Jones tweeted that she had a “broken heart’' after missing an Olympic medal finish by one-tenth of a second. Her disappointment followed her performance in the 2008 Olympics, when she was leading the race and clipped the ninth of 10 hurdles to finish seventh. She took no solace that the Tuesday night race was the fastest one in Olympic history, with Australia’s Sally Pearson running an Olympic-record 12.35 seconds to edge American Dawn Harper by two-hundredths of a second to win.

“Definitely, I was crushed afterwards,’’ Jones said. “I know I had the best race of my season. Not the best race of my life, but I had the best race of my year, so I just try to look at that. It doesn’t take away from the pain that I was close to once again having a medal and not getting it.”

Jones tried to find the silver lining in reaching the Olympic finals after several setbacks in the past year.

“I think it’s disappointing in one extreme as in I didn’t get the medal, but in another extreme, a year ago I was having spinal cord surgery,’’ she said. “I mean if I look at that, spinal cord surgery, two hamstring injuries and you fought through all of that, so I take time to focus on that and not the negativity I’ve received.”

Jones has drawn criticism for her openness with the media about everything from her personal life to struggles with injuries. However, she hopes that her story will inspire others to overcome adversity.

“Putting your heart out there, obviously it opens you up to a lot of negativity, but at the same time if I could just reach somebody out there,’’ she said. “Maybe there’s a little girl who thinks she can be an Olympic athlete and she sees all the things I struggled through to get here. Yeah, I didn’t walk away with a medal or run away with a medal, but I think there’s lessons to be learned when you win and lessons to be learned when you lose.’’

When Lolo Jones competes in the Olympics Tuesday, she'll have more than physical hurdles to overcome; she must also confront the memory of a crushing defeat, and the notion that she may be more puff than power.

But the American track star said she already feels she has won the race.

“I feel like I’ve already redeemed myself, you know?” she told TODAY’s Savannah Guthrie. “Stepping on that line for me, it will be about facing my fears.”

Jones may be best remembered for her performance in the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing. As she surged ahead of the pack in the 100-meter hurdles, she clipped the second-to-last hurdle and stumbled out of medal contention.

Earlier this summer, Jones barely secured the last spot on the Olympic team at the U.S. trials. Yet she managed to attract far more media attention than her much faster teammates, Dawn Harper and Kellie Wells.

That has drawn a new round of criticism that Jones is all hype but very little hope – for gold or any medal.

A New York Times article last week charged that Jones receives far more publicity than any other American track-and-field athlete in London not because of achievement, “but on her exotic beauty and on a sad and cynical marketing campaign.”

“Essentially, Jones has decided she will be whatever anyone wants her to be – vixen, virgin, victim – to draw attention to herself and the many products she endorses,” the Times article said.

One pundit in the story even compared Jones to Anna Kournikova, the former Russian tennis player who received more attention for her looks than her skills, which are average.

Jones, 30, also has garnered attention for her very public vow to stay a virgin until marriage, a pledge she has shared with her Twitter followers.

“This is my path, and I was just sharing a part of my life,” she said.

When Guthrie asked Jones whether her life is an open book, Jones laughed and agreed it was.

“Maybe I should, like, zip it,” she said.

Jones said she has an easy time finding dates. More difficult, she said, is finding a good companion.

“I do have a hard time finding that I want a date that has good morals, that’s willing to wait,” she said.

Until then, she relies on the support of her family, including a sister who helped pull her out of her self-proclaimed “meltdown” following her performance at the U.S. trials. Her family also has helped her through a series of injuries, back surgery and doubt by outsiders that she lost her competitive edge.

Jones assured everyone that she still has “that fire” when she runs.

“With every step, I’m just beating out the problems of my life.”

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