Sports & Politics

Jeneba Tarmoh Withdrew From The 100 Meter Runoff, Reminding Us That Bad Ideas Can Always Get Worse

Remember when the USATF came up with that hastily-devised, poorly-conceived, generally derided and basically lame tie-breaker for the dead heat between Jeneba Tarmoh and Allyson Felix? Well, Tarmoh agreed to a runoff with Felix, before changing her mind hours before the race, ceding the Olympic spot. Thus, USATF’s tie-breaker looks even more stupid.

To refresh your memory, the tie-breaker announced by the USATF allowed Tarmoh and Felix to choose between a runoff, a coin flip (ugh) or conceding the spot. As noted in the last post about this, letting the runners decide who should go to London was stupid in the first place. Does the NFL allow overtimes to be settled however the players want? (If they did, you know Adam Jones would be all like, “Spend off!!!“) But the confusing and unclear parameters of the runoff led to Tarmoh agreeing to the race, only to back out seven-and-a-half hours before the starting gun (from ESPN):

“I Jeneba Tarmoh have decided to decline my 3rd place position in the 100m dash to Allyson Felix,” Tarmoh wrote in [an] email. “I understand that with this decision I am no longer running the 100m dash in the Olympic Games and will be an alternate for the event. As an alternate I understand that I will be asked to run if another 100m runner decides not to for personal reasons, and/or on the 4x100m relay.”

So, that’s how the third place finish for the 100 meter trial was decided: via email. Apparently, Tarmoh was reluctant to agree to the runoff at all, feeling that she had been “robbed” of her spot in London after originally being named the winner, taking a victory lap, and appearing at a press conference as said winner. But though she wasn’t robbed — replays show that — she was put in a very uncomfortable position by the USATF by having the onus of the decision placed on her.

Good for Allyson Felix, who raced well in the original trial and will be a worthy Olympian. But after probably assuming the runners would agree to a runoff (because what athlete wants a coin flip to decide a competition?), the USATF has to be feeling like they robbed themselves of some good publicity for the sport — not to mention, perhaps, an even better competitor in Tarmoh.

Getty photo by Andy Lyons via

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