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July 12, 2012

Dead Heat Controversy Simply Will Not Die

By MARY PILON

The sprinter Jeneba Tarmoh is in Los Angeles, training to run in a relay in London, and still struggling to understand how a close race at the United States Olympic trials nearly three weeks ago became a national controversy and left her without a spot in the 100 meters at the Summer Games.

In the 100-meter final at the trials on June 23, Tarmoh was unofficially declared the third-place finisher ahead of her training partner and friend Allyson Felix — good for a spot on the Olympic team. But after a review of finish-line photos, race officials deemed it a dead heat for third place, leading to days of drama over which of the runners would earn the Olympic berth.

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United States Track & Field officials gave Tarmoh and Felix options: One could cede the Olympic berth to the other, or they could break the tie with a coin toss or a runoff. Ultimately, Tarmoh ceded the spot.

Tarmoh and her agent, Kim Holland, said in telephone interviews this week that they remained dismayed by how the disputed finish was handled, though they said the situation had not adversely affected Tarmoh’s relationship with Felix or Bobby Kersee, who coaches both runners.

“I don’t accept what happened,” Tarmoh said. “They said, ‘You won,’ and took it away.”

As an indication of how conflicted she remains, Tarmoh said track officials “did the best they could do with the time they were given,” but added that she grew uneasy with the situation once USA Track & Field asked them to “make a decision based on how much they invested surrounding the runoff controversy.”

“We were puppets,” she added. “I couldn’t do it.”

After crossing the finish line, Tarmoh did a victory lap waving a United States flag, while Felix, a two-time Olympic silver medalist in the 200 meters, told reporters “fourth is the worst.”

But 45 minutes after the end of the race, once finish-line judges decided that third place was too close to call, the official result was posted: dead heat.



“This was an evolving situation,” Jill Geer, a spokeswoman for the track organization, said about the confusion and controversy. “We didn’t have a process in place.”

In track, results are determined by whose torso crosses the finish line first. The image that judges typically examine to determine a winner, known as the outside shot, did not show who finished third. In that photo, judges said, the arms of Tarmoh and Felix obscured their torsos.

“Normally when you have someone with a slightly twisted torso, you go to the other camera and it’s easy to see who is ahead,” said Giles Norton, a qualified USA Track & Field photo-finish official and director of marketing for Lynx System Developers Inc., the official timing and results provider for the track organization.

Roger Jennings, who had unofficially called Tarmoh the third-place finisher, relied on her twisted torso to make his decision. But he wanted to see an alternate image to confirm his decision for the official results. The second image “shows you nothing,” Norton said. “Ninety-nine times out of 100” the second shot reveals the winner, he said.

“In most cases it wouldn’t matter,” he said. “You would give both people bronze medals and say, ‘Isn’t that wonderful?’ ”

The track organization’s guidelines give runners up to 30 minutes to contest official results after they are posted. But by the time the official results were posted, 45 minutes after the race, Tarmoh was in the drug-testing tent. A USA Track & Field staff member there mentioned to Holland, Tarmoh’s agent, that Tarmoh’s third-place finish had been deemed a dead heat. The possibility of a dead heat was also mentioned by reporters during a news conference after the race.

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“I said, ‘You’re kidding me,’ ” Holland said, leaving Tarmoh to finish the drug-testing protocol. “When we were in doping, we weren’t privy to access the media or phones.”

Holland said she and Tarmoh did not receive formal notification of the dead-heat ruling until a phone call late that evening with Stephanie Hightower, the president of the track organization.

“The first time I heard it was officially declared a dead heat was when Kim called me that night,” Tarmoh said.

Geer, the spokeswoman, said unofficial results are exactly that — unofficial. Watching for official results and filing protests are “the responsibility of the athlete or coach or manager,” she said.

Athletes are notified of results “organically,” Geer said, adding that most agents and coaches keep tabs on when official times are printed. “The posting is the notification,” she added. “It’s just known.”

Tarmoh said that although she was not sure she would have filed a formal protest if she had been aware of the situation within the 30-minute window, she wished she had understood the circumstances sooner. “The athlete should be the first to know,” she said.

Tarmoh said she wanted to follow her coach’s advice and focus on the 200-meter semifinals and final later in the week. Avoiding news coverage and conversations about the 100-meter controversy was “definitely the right decision.”

“Bobby’s role was to protect us like a father protects his kids,” Tarmoh said. “As far as the decision, he didn’t want to make one of us feel like we were inferior. He told us that he’s not going to make the decision — it’s our decision.”

Felix declined to be interviewed for this article. “Allyson is focusing on London and is not available to discuss,” a spokesman for Felix said in a statement.

On June 30, Felix won the 200-meter final, and Tarmoh finished fifth and failed to qualify for the Olympics.

In a two-hour meeting the next day that included Felix, Tarmoh, their managers, track officials and former athletes, Felix said she wanted to do the runoff, leaving Tarmoh with the choice of whether to run or concede.

“I felt like I had no other choice,” Tarmoh said about her initial agreement to compete in a runoff on July 2. “I felt like the athlete in me had to do the runoff. I’m a competitor.

“I just felt like I didn’t have enough time to make the decision.”

But after the 200 final, Tarmoh had started to read news coverage of the disputed finish, including an interview with Jennings in which he explained his methodology. Sharing the article with her former coaches and agent, Tarmoh grew frustrated that the information had not been discussed in her meetings with USA Track & Field officials.

After the runoff was announced, Tarmoh said, she “wasn’t at peace” with her decision.

“I know a lot of people can’t comprehend that,” she said. “But to me being at peace is a feeling where no one can make you cry. And I felt sad that whole day. I was an emotional wreck just thinking about the situation.

“I told myself, if you’re running this race, it would mean you’re running with a broken heart, and how well could you do if you’re not at peace? I just had to think about that. You try so hard to run with a purpose. How fast can you move if you barely can walk? It was an ultimate low. It was the hardest decision I’ve ever made. It hurt and cut deep.”

By July 2, the runoff was off.

If she had to do it over again, Tarmoh said she might not have initially agreed to the runoff. “I feel like I did let a lot of people down,” she said. “And I apologize for that.”

If she is looking for any redemption — or a gold medal — she will likely have a chance as a member of the 4x100 relay. The preliminaries are Aug. 9 and the final is on Aug. 10. “I’m excited about representing my country,” she said.

Tarmoh said she had an additional reason to be excited about her trip to London. She plans to meet an older brother for the first time.

“Even though all of this has happened, I get to go to London and meet my brother who lives there,” she said. “I couldn’t be happier.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/13/sp...r=1&ref=sports