Heads or Tails?

Heads or Tails? This is a common method I use to decide what’s for dinner or what color nail polish to choose. My parents even used a coin toss to decide which parent would attend my college graduation. (My twin brother and I graduated college on the same day, at the same time in different states, 300 miles apart.) For my parents, it was the only logical way to solve the problem. But a coin toss is never the answer to serious problems like what shoes I should wear, who I should start in my fantasy lineup or who should represent America in the London Games.

The coin toss is also used in sporting events to decide who starts on offense or defense. Funny, I can’t find anywhere where a coin toss decided the outcome of any game, but a coin toss could be the deciding factor for the women’s USA Track and Field team. There seems to be a third-place tie between Allyson Felix and Jeneba Tarmoh in the women’s 100 meters and with no protocol for tiebreakers, both athletes get to choose between a coin toss or they can race again to see who will complete the final spot and represent the USA in London. Both athletes must agree on the toss or the race, but if they disagree, they will race to the finish line.

Can you hear the world laughing at us now? Seriously, A COIN TOSS? Geeeez, just give everyone a gold medal and a cookie and tell them thanks for coming to London.

<br<< p=””>
This is terrible! All of your training comes down to luck? Please, this can’t be true- did a Russian judge make this rule? It’s simple, in sports you play until you win or you lose- there’s no situation where a tie game should ever end with a coin toss to determine the winner and loser- NEVER! </br<<>

Sudden death, overtime, extra innings- whatever the sport is you keep playing until there is a clear winner. There’s the rare occasion when a regular season game could end in a tie, but never in a playoff game! And isn’t this what the Olympic trials are like a playoff match, more like a Runoff? There are no ties in runoffs! NO TIES- RUN AGAIN!

The US officials want to have the team set by July 1st- so we’ll have to wait and see if the 100 meters is completed with luck or speed. Until then, Allyson Felix and Jeneba Tarmoh will be focusing on the 200 meters finals this week.