2012 U.S. Olympic Track And Field Team Is Complete

The 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Track and Field reached their anti-climatic conclusion on Monday when Jeneba Tarmoh announced she had withdrawn from the women’s 100-meters runoff, ceding her spot in London to Allyson Felix. The decision not only brought an end to the dead-heat drama, but it also meant the end of the trials. After nine days of competition at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., Team USA’s track and field contingent for London is now set.

The track and field competition -- officially called Athletics at the Olympics -- begins Aug. 3, with men’s shot put and women’s 10,000 meters, and concludes Aug. 12, the final day of the Games, with the men’s marathon.

Jeneba Tarmoh has officially “withdrawn herself from consideration for one of three Olympic Team positions in the women’s 100 meters,” per USA Track and Field. She will not participate in Monday night’s scheduled 100-meter runoff and will instead cede her spot in the event to Allyson Felix.

USATF put out a release, roughly just seven hours before the tie-breaking sprint was to take place, that included an e-mail from Tarmoh, forwarded by her agent, with her decision to withdraw:

There will be no runoff after all. Jeneba Tarmoh’s agent has told the USA Today that the sprinter “will not run today” and instead will surrender her spot in the women’s 100 meters for the 2012 Olympics. This means Allyson Felix will head to London to compete in the 100m sprint, along with the first and second place finishers, Carmelita Jeter and Tianna Madison.

Speculation of a canceled runoff began Sunday evening when Tarmoh reportedly decided to pull out, despite representatives from USA Track and Field trying to convince her to run, though she didn’t officially withdraw at the time. The story was originally reported by SI’s Tim Layden.

There is one spot left for the United States contingent in the women’s 100 meters, and there are only two competitors remaining. Allyson Felix and Jeneba Tarmoh are scheduled to compete in the eagerly anticipated runoff at 8 p.m. Monday. The pair finished in a dead heat for the final spot last week.

Felix doesn’t need to worry about earning a spot in London: She won the 200 at the U.S. Team Trials and is a favorite to win the gold in that event at the Olympics. But for Tarmoh, who finished fifth in that event, the runoff is her chance to represent the U.S. in August.

So about that women’s 100-meter runoff that’s supposed to take place on Monday in primetime. According to SI.com’s Tim Layden, Jeneba Tarmoh, part of the tie for the third and final spot on the U.S. Olympic team in the 100, may be having second thoughts. The race was declared a dead-heat one week ago, and a runoff was the agreed upon resolution.

But now there’s this:

Wallace Spearmon is going to have a chance at redemption in the 200 meters at the 2012 Olympics. He finished third to seemingly win the bronze medal at the 2008 Olympics, but was disqualified for stepping out of his lane. He won the 200 meters at the Olympic trials on Sunday in 19.82, and will be one of the medal favorites in London.

He’ll be joined on the team by Maurice Mitchell and Isiah Young, who barely edged their competitors in an extremely close race. There was only one-hundredth of a second between Young and fourth place finisher Calesio Newman, who misses out on the Olympics in heartbreaking fashion. Spearman impressively came close to a meet record into a 2.3 mile per hour headwind, but came up just short of Michael Johnson’s mark.

In the 1500-meter run at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore. Sunday night, Leonel Manzano burst into an all-out sprint in the middle-distance event toward the end to overtake Matthew Centrowicz to finish in first place, making his fourth Olympic team. Joining Manzano and Centrowicz in London will be Andrew Wheating, who beat the fourth-place finisher, Andrew Bayer, by three-quarters of a minute.

For the women, Morgan Uncey had almost a wire-to-wire victory in the distance run, never letting anyone really challenge her in the last 500 meters or so. Uncey finished in 4:04.59. She was followed closely by Shannon Rowbury, who made the Olympics in Beijing to finish seventh, and Jenny Simpson, the 2011 world champion. Rowbury and Simpson battled tightly for ultimately symbolic position, but Rowbury edged out the second-place finish by .06 seconds.

Bershawn “Batman” Jackson tried to fly. He threw everything he had into the finish of the 400m hurdles, trying to get across the line in third to secure a spot on the U.S. Olympic team. It didn’t work, of course, but it did make for a fun GIF.

Now would be a good time to remind everyone that the torso is what matters for the photo finish. Odds are Jackson was going to fall or step out of his lane anyway -- and went out with an “I regret nothing” dive instead -- but still ... he can’t fly.

In the 400-meter hurdles at the U.S. Olympic Trials, Angelo Taylor decided he would try to blow the field out of the water early, taking a massive lead all the way into the home stretch starting in Lane 6. He stumbled with less than 100 meters to go, appeared to completely lose gas and he was passed immediately by Michael Tinsley. He held on to finish in second and qualify for the 2012 London Olympics. He will go to his fourth Olympics. Kerron Clement beat a diving Bershawn Jackson by .05 seconds, a heartbreaker for one of the favorites in the event.

Lashinda Demus, Georganne Moline and T’erea Brown comprise the women’s team in the 400m. Demus won the final at the trials in impressive fashion. There was significant daylight between her and Moline, who will go to her first Olympics, and Moline and Brown. Demus, the American record-holder, finished in 53.98 seconds. Moline finished in 54.33 and Brown in 54.81. Brown won the U.S. 400m championship last year.

The long-awaited runoff between Allyson Felix and Jeneba Tarmoh in the 100-meter dash will take place in Eugene, Ore., Monday night at 8 p.m. ET, as first reported by Sports Illustrated contributor George Schroeder. Felix and Tarmoh finished in a dead heat for third place in the first running of the 100m finals. Only three competitors qualify for the Olympic team in each event. Felix and Tarmoh had the option of resorting to a coin flip to determine the winner, but instead they elected to have a runoff.

NBC has been televising the Olympic swimming trials at night, but Tim Layden reported that the network will cut to the sprint, as this has been one of the more closely followed stories in Olympic qualifying all week.

The 2012 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials wrap up Sunday with a busy day from Eugene, Ore. Sunday’s schedule includes eight event finals.

The final of the men’s 400-meter hurdles is shaping up to be one of the most competitive events of the trials. The United States swept the medals in the 400-meter hurdles at the 2008 Olympics and Angelo Taylor, Kerron Clement and Bershawn Jackson are looking to return to the Olympics in 2012. The three will have their work cut out for them Sunday with Johnny Dutch, Justin Gaymon and others providing stiff competition.

While the final of the women’s 200-meter dash garnered a lot of the attention Saturday at the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials, a number of other athletes punched their tickets to London.

Trevor Barron earned an Olympic berth Saturday when he won the men’s 20,000-meter race walk. Baron set a new American record Saturday when he finished in 1 hour, 23 minutes. The 19-year-old Barron was the only 20,000-meter Olympic qualifier.

Allyson Felix dominated a loaded field to win the women’s 200 meters finals at Hayward Field in the 2012 U.S. Track and Field Trials Saturday night. Carmelita Jeter, the 100m finals winner, was second, and Sanya Richards-Ross, the 400m winner, was third. The trio are all headed to London and all three will be among the favorites for gold in the Olympics.

Jeneba Tarmoh was fifth, finishing in 22.35 seconds. Tarmoh and Felix finished in a dead heat in the 100m earlier in the week; an announcement on how to resolved the tie -- a coin flip or a runoff -- is expected to come Saturday night or early Sunday morning.

Aries Merritt will lead the Men’s 110m Hurdles team to the 2012 Olympic Games in London, finishing with a time of 12.93 at the U.S. Olympic Team Track & Field Trials in Eugene, Ore., on Saturday evening. Joining Merritt will be Jason Richardson, who finished second place with a time of 12.98, and Jeffery Porter, who made the final spot for the Olympic team by diving head-first across the finish line to claim third place at 13.08.

David Oliver, considered the favorite to win the race, finished in fifth with a team of 13.17, and did not qualify for the Olympic team. Oliver earned a Bronze Medal in the men’s 110m hurdles at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Oliver’s personal best in the 110m hurdles is 12.89.

The 2012 U.S. Olympic Track & Field trials are entering the finals stages, and a number of spots on the Olympic team are on the line Saturday. It is the ninth day of trials with only competition on Sunday remaining.

Television coverage of Saturday’s events will be on NBC from 9-10 p.m. ET (NBCOlympics.com will handle the online streaming during the same time). Here is the full day’s schedule of events (all times are ET):

Day 9 at the 2012 U.S. Olympics Team Trials in Track and Field in Eugene, Ore. on Friday featured plenty of excitement, starting with the women’s 200 meter semi-finals. Sanya Richards-Ross ran the fastest time of the three heats, coming in at 22.15 seconds. Allyson Felix and Jeneba Tarmoh tied for the second fastest time on the day at 22.30 seconds ran in separate heats. The two have been tight competitors throughout the trials. They finished in a dead heat during the 100 meter finals.

Rounding out the finals will be Tianna Madison (22.33), Bianca Knight (22.34), Kimberlyn Duncan (22.37), Aurieyall Scott (22.56) and Carmelita Jeter (22.64).

On Friday, the U.S. Olympic trials in track and field will continue in Eugene, Ore. The top athletes from around the country are still attempting to secure their spots to represent the United States in the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

The trials will be televised live from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network on Friday night. Here is the full day’s schedule of events:

Day 7 at the 2012 U.S. Olympics Team Trials in Track and Field, in addition to the men’s and women’s 5,000m (full results here), had a trio of finals decided on Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.

Men’s pole vault got the day started, and it was Brad Walker leaping past his competition with a successful attempt on 5.67m. Joining him on Team USA will be Jeremy Scott (5.60m) and Derek Miles (5.60m).

After a rest of two days, the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Track and Field got back into action Thursday night in Eugene, Ore., with a total of five finals, highlighted by the men’s and women’s 5,000 meters.

The women took to the track at Hayward Field first, and it was Julie Culley who emerged victorious, crossing the finish line in a time of of 15:13.77. She will be joined on Team USA in London by Molly Huddle (15:14.40) and Kim Conley (15:19.79). Just missing out -- by 0.04 seconds -- was the fourth-place finisher, Julia Lucas.

After two rest days, the trials for the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Team continue on Thursday in Eugene, Ore. There will be 13 events in total, but just five of them will determine which competitors will make their events. The finals will have four men’s events -- pole vault, discus throw, 3,000-meter steeplechase and 5,000 meter -- and the women’s 5,000 meter.

The other qualifying events and a schedule for the day’s action follow. NBC Sports Network will broadcast the day’s events at 9 p.m. ET.

The tiebreaker mechanism to determine the third place finisher in the women’s 100 meter event at the 2012 U.S. Olympic trials will be determined following Saturday’s final of the women’s 200 meter. USA Track & Field has already been in contact with the athletes, Jeneba Tarmoh and Allyson Felix, and their support teams, and the plan now is to announce the mechanism either Saturday evening or Sunday morning.

The two sprinters finished in a dead heat at 11.07 seconds at the trials in Eugene, Ore., on June 23. A photograph of the finish could not determine who the leader was. Tarmoh was unofficially timed .001 ahead of Felix on the track, but referee Bob Podkaminer overruled the time.

The women’s 100 meter event awaits a runoff for third place between Jeneba Tarmoh and Allyson Felix after the two finished in a dead heat for the spot on June 23. However, the call certainly wasn’t an easy one -- or even one settled by the photo-finish evaluator.

As Tim Layden details in an excellent article for Sports Illustrated, Roger Jennings, the man who had to determine the photo finish, knew he was going to have a tough time once he saw the image of Tarmoh and Felix cross the finish line:

Reigning high jump world champion Jesse Williams was one of four men tied with the best jump at U.S. Olympic Trials, which was just barely good enough for him to sneak onto the Olympic team. The United States is only allowed to send three representatives in the high jump, and none of the four men at the top of the standings in Eugene reached the Olympic ‘A’ qualifying standard at the meet. One of the four men tied for the lead, Nick Ross, was the odd man out of the four, as he was the only one who has not reached the ‘A’ standard at any point this year.

Similar results caused the top two in the men’s javelin to miss out on the Olympics. Sam Humphreys and Samuel Crouser finished first and second, but neither has reached the Olympic ‘A’ standard this year. That means the third-through-fifth placed throwers -- Craig Kinsley, Sean Furey and Cyrus Hostetler -- will be headed to London.

The 2012 Olympic Track and Field Trials continue in Eugene, Ore.

At the end of the day Monday, the athletes have been set in the men’s and women’s 800-meter run. Three male and three female runners have now punched their tickets for the Summer Games in London at the 2012 Olympics.

There’s a bit of a problem at the US Track and Field team trials: Allyson Felix and Jeneba Tarmoh finished in a dead heat for the third, and final, Olympic spot in the women’s 100m dash. To solve it, the two will either compete in a runoff or flip a coin -- a decision that came after much debate. But the winner of the men’s 100m finals, Justin Gatlin, came up with an alternative solution: Wrestling.

He was joking around, but this probably wasn’t the best idea. From Jim Caple: