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Georgia State student uses Twitter to land date with Olympian

ATLANTA — A Georgia State University student landed a date with an Olympian thanks to the power of social media.

Twitter can spread breaking news around the world in an instant, but for rising senior Bubby Lyles it's getting him closer to track and field and bobsled athlete Lolo Jones.

"I knew it was possible from the beginning. The only doubt I had in the beginning was 'Can I get a reply out of her? Will she agree to it?'" Bubby Lyles told Channel 2 Action News.

He asked Jones out on Twitter and three hours later, she said yes, but on the condition that 150,000 users would have to retweet his original request.

"When I first started this, I've had people laugh at me like, 'It's going to take you two years, things like that. But as soon as it hit 75,000, it was like, 'He might have a shot at this.' And when it 100,000, it was like, 'OK, this is real.' And then, it happened," Lyles said.

Thirteen days and over 150,000 retweets later, Jones has lived up to her end of the bargain, and the two are reviewing schedules to pick a day that works. Of course, Lyles' schedule is a bit more flexible.

"I know she's really tied up with bobsled and everything, but she has my contact information, so I'm just waiting on her response basically, and we'll set something up," he said.

Lyles said he plans to be himself and hopes for a second date.

http://twitter.com/harrylylesjr/status/347759212274794496