EUGENE, Ore. — Jasmine Jones is having an eventful year, from graduating college to going to the Olympic Trials.
It got even more eventful Sunday night for the daughter of a former Buffalo Bills defensive back, when she qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics in the 400-meter hurdles.
Jones finished third in the event, running a personal-best 52.77 seconds. Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone took first at 50.65 seconds — a new world record — and Anna Cockrell was second at 52.64 at the U.S. Track and Field Trials in Eugene, Ore.
Jones attended the University of Southern California and is from Atlanta, Ga. She's the daughter of Henry Jones, who was an All-Pro safety for the Bills from 1991 to 2000. In a follow-up article from 2019 from the Bills website, he shared how he felt about being drafted.
"I knew I was coming to a Super Bowl team (with) a lot of veterans, so I was very excited. But at the same time, I knew I had a lot to prove to the guys on the team because it was such a good team. I really felt, even right after I got drafted, that we were going to be going to Super Bowls," Jones said.
Jones followed her father's footsteps with her passion and athleticism, which landed her a spot in the U.S. Track and Field Olympic Team Trials.
Jones' father also shared that he coached her track team in high school.
"I am always telling the kids, 'Make the reps count. Don't count the reps,' that kind of stuff. How to get through injuries, how to fight through pain, how to know when you're injured or when it's just painful [is what I help them with]. There are a lot of lessons from football or sports in general, that carry over to other sports for sure," he said.
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