This tale was pointed out to me by
leviathan0999 for me to post ..... so, although I didn't find it, I have researched and written it up in the usual style
Suzy Favor-Hamilton was born in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, USA. She began running at age nine and she attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison, receiving a bachelor of science degree in graphic arts in 1991 and marrying the pitcher on the University baseball team. Her collegiate running career was record breaking, with nine NCAA individual titles and a host of awards.
She then became an American Olympian ..... Competing three times for the U.S. in the Olympic Games, 1992, 1996 and 2000, also holding various US and Pan American records. Needless to say she had plenty of celebrity and media coverage, both on the track and off it. Highlights include:
- She featured in national ads for Nike, Reebok, Pert Plus Shampoo, Nordic Track, Clairol, Oakley and Kikkoman Foods
- She featured in the magazines Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Rolling Stone, Runner's World, Harper's Bazaar, Men's Journal, Sports Illustrated, Sports Illustrated for Kids, Track & Field News, Women's Sports & Fitness, Running Times
- Appeared in the 1997 Suzy Hamilton Swimsuit Calendar
- In 2004, Favor-Hamilton wrote the book Fast Track: Training and Nutrition Secrets from America's Top Female Runner with Dr. Jose Antonio.
She currently operates a successful Madison, Wisconsin real estate brokerage with her husband, delivers motivational speeches, and does promotional work for various businesses and groups, including Disney’s running series and Wisconsin’s Potato & Vegetable Growers Association.
Oops:
She said that she
deliberately fell and threw in the towel in the 2000 Olympics when it was clear that she could not win a medal (she claimed this was because she was trying to win a medal in memory of a relative who had recently died ....
)
She also featured in a
controversial Nike advert during the 2000 Olympics which was pulled after airing for only a short period of time. It featured a chainsaw-wielding masked killer appears behind her and attempts to kill her in a scary old house ... She manages to outrun him thanks to her Nike trainers, and the ad closes with the message, "
Why sport? You'll live longer". Nike said it was meant to be humorous and Hamilton herself stated the ad was inspirational .... protesters said it was too scary for kids, or it made light of violence against women (
.... really, some people need to get a life!!).
A girls gotta eat:
In 2012, Hamilton admitted
working for an escort service in Las Vegas, after
'The Smoking Gun' broke the story. Apparently in December 2011 she started booking
scores of “dates” in Las Vegas and other U.S. cities, including Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston for the
escort agency 'Haley Heston’s Private Collection' (advertised on the 'The Erotic Review' TER). Hamilton charged rates of
$600 an hour, and up to
$6,000 for a 24-hour period. Additionally, she would charge $300 more for a
particular (unspecified) sex act. She used the alias “
Kelly Lundy” (“Kelly” was TER’s third-ranked “provider” in Las Vegas), but then she blabbed her identity to several of the 'tricks' (
aka 'johns') .... apparently assuming that men who use prostitutes wouldn't talk ...
.... Well they do, and they did, and the story broke.
She apparently did it because it gave her '
excitement' from her routine marital existence, and she confirmed that her husband was aware of her sideline but that, “
He tried, he tried to get me to stop. He wasn't supportive of this at all” (
quelle surprise!) .... she has stated previously that she suffered from depression after the birth of her child and was prescribed an antidepressant drug. She apparently hadn't considered the legal consequences of her work, and has said that she had already told some of her 'regulars' that she was stopping, and that she has recently started therapy to “
figure out myself why I've done what I've done” ....
ah well, better late than never!
Quotes:
She later tweeted, "
I realize I have made highly irrational choices and I take full responsibility for them. I am not a victim here and knew what I was doing. I was drawn to escorting in large part because it provided many coping mechanisms for me when I was going through a very challenging time with my marriage and my life. Everybody in this world makes mistakes. I made a huge mistake. Huge”.
Trivia:
- Ranked number one in the U.S. in 1989, 1990, 2000, 2001 and 2002
- Named USA Track and Field Distance Runner of the Year, 2000
- Five sub-four minute 1500 m, which are five of the nine fastest times ever run by an American.
- She lives in a $600,000 Madison home with her family.
Pictures:
She has no thread, so just a few illustrative pictures. As its really not my find, I have done my best to get a good set, but as usual if you want to post any follow up pics, then please consider starting a new thread in the modern celebrity threads ....