There will be no coin toss. There will be no sprint off. Jeneba Tarmoh withdrew her bid for the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Team, handing her spot to Allyson Felix.
Tarmoh and Felix finished the 100-meter dash during the U.S. Olympic Trials in a dead heat last week. A runoff was scheduled for later today to decide who would make the Olympic team but Tarmoh announced today that she was conceding her spot to Felix.
“I Jeneba Tarmoh have decided to decline my 3rd place position in the 100m dash to Allyson Felix… 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.”
After Tarmoh’s announcement Felix released a statement saying that she was disappointed that she wouldn’t be able to earn her spot on the team but was looking forward to competing at the 2012 London Olympics.
Felix said:
“The situation has been difficult for everyone involved… I wanted to earn my spot on this team and not have it conceded to me so I share in everyone’s disappointment that this runoff will not happen. All I can do now is turn my focus to London.”
ESPN reports that USA Track & Field doesn’t have any defined procedures to deal with a tie during an Olympic trial. The final Olympic spot was to be decided by a coin toss, a runoff, or by one athlete conceding.
Are you upset that the final spot on the US Olympic Track & Field Team was decided this way?
