The Big Ten Conference announced this week that the name of Suzy Favor Hamilton was removed from the award that goes to the Big Ten female athlete of the year.
Suzy Favor Hamilton, an Olympic and University of Wisconsin track star, worked as a $600-an-hour escort in Las Vegas under the name of Kelly Lundy.
A spokesman for the Big Ten, Scott Chipman, said that Suzy Favor Hamilton’s name was removed from the award after discussions between the league and Wisconsin.
Suzy Favor Hamilton, 44, competed in the Olympics in 1992, 1996 and 2000. She is a native of Stevens Point.
The Smoking Gun website in December first reported that Suzy Favor Hamilton worked as an escort in Las Vegas. She later described it as a “coping mechanism” tied to depression and other personal issues.
Suzy Favor Hamilton’s name was removed from the award that goes to the Big Ten female athlete of the year
Suzy Favor Hamilton was the Big Ten’s female athlete of the year three times beginning in 1988 and she retains those honors. She won seven U.S. national titles, her last in 1999.
Her time in the 800 meters (1:59.11), which she ran on June 1, 1990, ranks first on the all-time collegiate women’s list. Her time in the 1,500 meters (4:08.26) ranks seventh on the all-time collegiate list.
In an email to the Wisconsin State Journal, Suzy Favor Hamilton declined to comment on the Big Ten’s decision to remove her name from the award.
“[I’m] focused on getting well and making amends to my loved ones,” Suzy Favor Hamilton said.
“That’s all for now.”
Suzy Favor-Hamilton, a three-time US Olympian who was publicly exposed on Thursday as an elite $600-an-hour escort, has revealed that her husband knew about her double life and tried to put an end to it.
Suzy Favor-Hamilton, a 44-year-old married mother of three, has been working with one of Las Vegas’ top agencies to book “dates” across cities including Las Vegas, Chicago and Houston.
Despite using the name “Kelly Lundy” as she advertised her services through Haley Heston’s Private Collection, her double life has been revealed after she told clients about her real identity, believing there was an unwritten rule they would not speak out.
But now at least one of these clients has contacted The Smoking Gun, which in turn has revealed the details of Suzy Favor-Hamilton’s clandestine career, which she now calls a “huge mistake”.
Soon after the story appeared online, instantly sparking a furor in the media, Suzy Favor-Hamilton took to Twitter to offer her 3,183 followers her side of the story.
In one missive, Suzy Favor-Hamilton explained that she was initially drawn to escorting “because it provided many coping mechanisms for me when I was going through a very challenging time with my marriage and my life”.
She added: “It provided an escape from a life that I was struggling in. It was a double life.”
In another post, Suzy Favor-Hamilton wrote that the reasons behind her decision to turn to a life of prostitution, while seemingly irrational now, “made sense at the time” and were closely related to depression.
“As crazy as I know it seems, I never thought I would be exposed, therefore never hurting anybody,” she said in one Twitter post.
The Olympian has refused to be labeled a victim, insisting that she knew what she was doing and taking full responsibility for her actions.
Suzy Favor-Hamilton told The Smoking Gun that her husband was the only one who knew about her moonlighting as a prostitute in cities across the country.
“He tried, he tried to get me to stop. He wasn’t supportive of this at all,” Suzy Favor Hamilton noted.
She has revealed that she is currently seeking psychological help for her problem.
“I fully intend to make amends and get back to being a good mother, wife, daughter, and friend,” she concluded in her most recent post.
Suzy Favor-Hamilton entered the public eye competing as a middle distance runner in the 1992, 1996, and 2000 Olympics. She went on to record a Nike TV advert, a swimsuit calendar and carry out Disney promo work.
She now works as a motivational speaker and runs a successful realty company in Madison, Wisconsin with her husband Mark, whom she met at college. They have a 7-year-old daughter.
But last December, she began working with Haley Heston’s agency to escape this routine life, she told the Smoking Gun when it caught up with her.
It is not clear how she was introduced to the agency, but she wrote on the website: “I met Haley with the idea of fulfilling a fantasy and only doing it for the short term.
“Well, after my first date, I was hooked, and have been doing my best to visit Las Vegas as often as my schedule allows (I run my own business in my real world life).”
She featured in numerous provocative photographs on her online profile on the website – yet always had her face obscured or hidden from the camera.
Suzy Favor-Hamilton explained: “Discretion is EXTREMELY important to me, hence you will only see blurred photos of my face on this site. I know this is not ideal, but I hope you understand that it is essential for me.”
She also described herself on the profile – which has now been removed – as a “workout fanatic” who enjoyed skiing, biking, hiking, running marathons and traveling.
Suzy favor-Hamilton wrote that she was bisexual so happy to carry out services with couples.
“Working with couples requires special skill and I pride myself in my ability to make a woman feel comfortable and not threatened in any way,” she wrote.
“A date with me will NEVER feel rushed.”
Suzy Favor-Hamilton, a three-time US Olympian, was publicly exposed as an elite $600-an-hour escort
Suzy Favor-Hamilton listed her rates as $600 for an hour, $1,000 for two hours, $4,000 for 12 hours and $6,000 for 24 hours, according to the page seen by the Smoking Gun.
And clients are happy with her services, allowing her to be named as The Erotic Review’s third-ranked “provider” in Las Vegas earlier this month.
In one July 2012 review, a client wrote: “She is worth every penny. I will go bankrupt before I stop seeing her. I hope no one else goes to see her, because I want her all to myself.”
Prostitution is illegal in all of the cities where Suzy Favor-Hamilton has had “dates” arranged by Haley Heston. But she said that she had never considered the legal ramifications of her work.
As well as legal problems, she may also face a backlash from her other employers if they learn that she apparently fitted the “dates” around her demanding work schedule.
At the end of August, Haley Heston said “Kelly” would be able to work in Orange County California. On September 1, Suzy Favor-Hamilton appeared at the Disney Exhibit Hall to speak to runners ahead of the Disneyland Half Marathon the next day, which she ran with her husband.
And in another example, the service said she would be in Vegas between November 29 and December 5. She ran the December 2 Rock n’ Roll Marathon along the Strip.
After being tracked down to a hotel in Las Vegas, Suzy Favor Hamilton eventually admitted she was “Kelly”, and while she called the role “exciting” she acknowledged she had made an error in judgment.
“I take full responsibility for my mistakes,” she said, the Smoking Gun reported.
“I’m not the victim and I’m not going that route. I’m owning up to what I did. I would not blame anybody except myself.”
She added: “Everybody in this world makes mistakes. I made a huge mistake. Huge.”
On Thursday, Suzy Favor-Hamilton tweeted: “I do not expect people to understand, but the reasons for doing this made sense to me at the time and were very much related to depression.
“I cannot emphasize enough how sorry I am to anyone I have hurt as a result of my actions and greatly appreciate the support from family and those closest to me. I fully intend to make amends and get back to being a good mother, wife, daughter, and friend.”
She said that she had not second guessed telling clients about her real identity and called herself “too trusting”. Suzy Favor-Hamilton said she expected all clients to honor a silence code.
Of the client Suzy Favor Hamilton suspected of going to the media, she said: “He totally broke all the rules by outing me.”
But she explained that she would not be revealing his identity to his loved ones as: “I don’t want to be like him. Because he is scum. And I will not become scum to make myself feel good.”
The revelation will come as no shock to her husband, who already knows of her side-career, she said. He repeatedly tried to make her stop, but she had refused.
Suzy Favor-Hamilton added that she had recently started therapy to come to terms with what she had done.
The couple does not appear to be suffering any financial hardship, according to court and municipal records.
But Suzy Favor-Hamilton has spoken of struggles in the past, including how she suffered from postpartum depression after her daughter’s birth in 2005.
Her brother Dan also killed himself in 1999 and, when she ran in the 1500-meter final at the Sydney Olympics the following year, she purposefully fell when runners overtook her as she was ashamed she could not win the medal in his memory.
