Sprinters Agree on Runoff to Determine Olympic Berth

Sprinters Agree on Runoff to Determine Olympic Berth

By MARY PILON and KEN BELSON
Published: July 1, 2012
EUGENE, Ore. — After a week of waiting amid a swirl of rumors, Allyson Felix and Jeneba Tarmoh chose a Monday runoff to decide who would claim the final spot to represent the United States in the women’s 100 meters at the Olympics. Their decision ends one of the stranger finishes in track history, one that involved two runners who train together, share a coach, run in the same races and finished tied with an Olympic berth at stake.
Discussions involving the runners, their coach, USA Track and Field officials and others began Saturday and continued on Sunday. It was announced Sunday afternoon, on the last day of the Olympic trials, that the runners had agreed to the runoff, which will be held Monday night.

The result is a compromise that allows USA Track and Field, the sport’s national governing body, to send a final roster of team members to the United States Olympic Committee on Monday, while also giving Felix and Tarmoh an additional day to rest after their 200-meter final Saturday night. Though a winner-take-all race, presumably in front of a smaller crowd, may lessen somewhat the pressure on the athletes, it may be offset by NBC Sports Network’s decision to televise the race live; coverage begins at 8 p.m. Eastern.



“Obviously, the only thing worse than waiting too long to have a runoff is having it too soon and having one of your star athletes get injured,” said Jill Geeer, a spokeswoman for U.S.A.T.F. “That would have been a worst-case scenario. We had to consult with the athletes, their coaches, their representatives to make sure that we weren’t putting anyone at risk, but that we were also getting a resolution to it. So we had to come up with a time and place that worked well.”

Felix and Tarmoh finished in a dead heat for third place in the 100 in the Olympic trials on June 23. The runners had to decide whether one of them would drop out, or whether there would be a coin flip or a runoff to decide who would get the third spot in the 100.

Bobby Kersee, who coaches both runners, suggested that he was still unhappy with the rules created last week to break their tie and had raised concerns about the runners being fatigued heading into an additional runoff race. Kersee’s wife, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, was also involved in the discussions, along with the runners’ agents.

U.S.A.T.F. did not have a procedure in place to deal with a dead heat and was forced into the embarrassing position of having to come up with one on the fly.

“This has been a learning process,” Geer said. “The coin toss was just there in case neither athlete wanted to make a decision. We really expected the tie would be broken either via runoff or one of the two athletes decided that they weren’t going to pursue the 100. But I don’t think anyone legitimately thought it would end in a coin toss.”

Adding to the messy process was the fact that both runners said they would not decide how they would break their tie until the 200 was over. Felix, who has won two Olympic silver medals in the 200, won the event on Saturday in a personal-best time of 21.69 seconds, the third fastest ever by an American woman. Tarmoh finished fifth, so her only chance of making the Olympic team is in the 100 or as part of the 4×100 relay team. Both women are likely to qualify as teammates in the relay.

Stephanie Hightower, the president of U.S.A.T.F., said that track officials decided not to resolve the dead heat on Saturday night because they wanted to give Felix time to enjoy her 200 victory.

“We set precedent with this policy and event,” she said. “And I think this could catapult the sport to new heights.”

Tarmoh joined Kersee’s group in Los Angeles about a year ago after Felix called her and invited her to train there. The two are “like sisters,” Bobby Kersee said.

Tarmoh ran at Texas A&M. In 2008, she was the world junior champion in the 100, finishing in 11.37. At last year’s national outdoor championships, Tarmoh finished third in the 200 in 22.28.

Felix and Tarmoh have already earned their place in Olympic history books, as a dead heat for third place in any Olympic trials is truly unusual, sports historians said.

In swimming, if there is a tie for a crucial spot, the two have a swimoff, said David Wallechinsky, an author of several Olympic history books.

In the men’s Olympic 200 freestyle in 1996, Jani Sievinen of Finland and Paul Palmer of Britain tied for eighth, Wallechinsky said. “Then they dead-heated in the swimoff. A second swimoff was ordered, but Sievinen withdrew because he had a different final the next day,” Wallechinsky said.