Weird But True

This Third-Place Tie In The Olympic Trials Is Making The USATF Look Awfully Dumb

Saturday’s Olympic trials featured an incredible, never-before-seen tie for third place between runners Allyson Felix and Jeneba Tarmoh, both of whom ran the 100-meter race in 11.068 seconds. These unique circumstances forced USA Track & Field to come up with a tie-breaking process in time for the trials to end.

Here’s what officials came up with (in, admittedly, a short window of time):

To break the tie, Felix and Tarmoh will be given a choice between a coin flip or run-off. Should both competitors choose the same option, that option will be used to determine the third spot on the Olympic team. Should one competitor choose run-off but the other a coin flip, a run-off will be held.

However, if both competitors refuse to make a choice, the spot then will be determined by coin flip. If one competitor chooses either option but the other competitor refuses to make a choice, the preference of the first competitor will determine the tiebreak method.

Alternatively, either competitor can choose to cede the spot and assume a spot as an alternate.

A coin flip or a run-off, decided by the athletes? Creating this quandary to decide a foot race is dumb, for a number of reasons:

1) What competitive athlete is going to want a coin flip to decide the winner?

For that matter, why would we want a spinning piece of copper to decide who represents our country in the Olympics? You know, the biggest stage in international sport? And we know that Felix and Tarmoh agree. Leaving this up to fate goes against the whole nature of sports, and in particular this sport, where your success is based entirely on what you put into it (and sometimes, what you inject into it). Whoever would win this hypothetical flip would feel like a jerk, and the loser would feel cheated.

2) Even if one of them didn’t want a run-off, it wouldn’t matter.

Making the run-off the tiebreaker means that only one person needs to choose it. So, if one runner feels better about their chances on the track, they’ll choose run-off, and that’s exactly what they’ll get. Not that we don’t want it that way — we do — but that puts the other runner in an awkward position and makes a sham out of this “choice.”

3) This run-off needs to happen quickly, and both of these runners have other races to worry about.

The USATF says this needs to be settled by the end of the trials on July 1st. But where are they going to fit in this run-off without killing these two, considering they’re both competing in the 200 meters this week and are under consideration for the relay teams? They’ll need time to recover, and running another high-intensity 100 meter dash isn’t part of that recovery plan.

4) Also, why is the USATF leaving this decision up to the runners?

Not that we don’t respect a woman’s right to choose, but considering the USATF is the governing body for the sport, it should be up to the officials how this is decided. That’s what they’re for: to enforce rules. Remember when the Bud Selig decided how the 2002 All-Star Game would end in 11 innings? That was a lame decision — but at least he made it.

This whole thing is a mess, which is a shame. These are two excellent runners, both equally deserving of a trip to London, but the sport they compete in seems to be run by kids on the playground.

USATF, you’re making Bud Selig look good, so it would be in your interest to do better next time two people run a long distance in the exact amount of time, down to the millisecond. OK? Thanks.

Photo by Mike Blake/Reuters