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The cutthroat world of US Olympic selection is brutal and imperfect, but it works

The cutthroat world of US Olympic selection is brutal and imperfect, but it works
Athing Mu competes in the women’s 800m final on day four of the 2024 US Olympic Team Trials Track and Field at Hayward Field on 23 June 2024 in Eugene, Oregon. (Photo: Patrick Smith / Getty Images)
Craig Ray
By Craig Ray
25 Jun 2024
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The United States has the most ruthless selection policy for the Olympic Games. But with nearly 850 medals, its success is clear.

At the ongoing US Olympic track and field trials, 12 men broke 10 seconds in the semifinals of the 100m. Twelve!

A 23-year-old named Pjai Austin ran 9.99 seconds in the 100m semifinals at the trials in Eugene, Oregon on Sunday. He was 12th fastest and didn’t even make it to the final.

This is a man who has a personal best time in the 100m of 9.89 seconds, set a year ago. He is clearly world-class and running well currently. He obviously has the ability to dip under 9.9 seconds. He would make most Olympic teams on the planet. In the US, he is an also-ran.

In the cutthroat world of US Olympic trials, he had to produce his best, on the day, to have a shot at representing his country in Paris next month.

He did not. As a consequence, he and many other great athletes missed out.

For the record reigning world champion Noah Lyles won his semifinal in 9.80 seconds (there was a non-legal 3m/s tailwind so the time is not chalked up as a personal best, which it would have been). Lyles later won the final in a legal 9.83 seconds.

Former 100m world champion Christian Coleman won his US trials semifinal in 9.86 seconds in a legal wind, making him one of the fastest men in the world this year.

Yet, in the final, where the tension was as massive as at the Olympics because the quality of the opposition was so insanely high, Coleman came fourth. He will not compete in the individual 100m in Paris. He will be part of the relay squad, though.

Coleman missed the Tokyo Games in 2021 and now his last realistic shot at individual Olympic glory is gone, all because of one race.

It wasn’t a bad race, but he clocked “only” 9.93 seconds when it absolutely mattered. In real terms, if you had put his two races side by side, he would have beaten himself by about 10cm on the track – or less than the length of an iPhone.

Had Coleman’s times in the semi and the final been reversed, he would be one of the US’s three individual competitors in the 100m in Paris. Such are the margins of success and failure at the US trials.

It’s not just about being capable of producing a great time, or distance, or height. It’s about producing that performance when it really matters.

Brutal selection


While those with a passing interest in athletics will be curious about the times and who qualifies, the real story of the US trials – and it’s not unique to this year – is not who is selected as much as how the team is selected.

Most countries choose their Olympic teams based on athletes who have made the qualifying times, heights or distances in the months leading up to the Games.

If a country has too many athletes in one discipline who have met the criteria it will come down to selection, usually by some form of committee or panel.

But the US has done it differently for decades.

Over the course of seven days, about six weeks before an Olympics, the US holds trials. It’s a winner-take-all, brutal process that places no value on reputation or sentiment.

It’s simply about choosing the best, who are in peak form, close to the Olympics. The top three in each event (assuming they achieve Olympic qualifying times/heights/distance – and they always do) make the individual events. The person in fourth is on the relay team, if there is a relay in that event.

Is it fair? Maybe not. Is it foolproof? Almost certainly not. But is it effective? You bet.

The US have won 828 Olympic medals in track and field, 344 of those gold. And they have used this selection policy since 1912. The next closest country in terms of medals is the Soviet Union/Russia with 251 and Great Britain in third with 211 medals.

‘Team chooses itself’

There is no athletics meeting quite like the US trials. Everything is on the line. The pressure on athletes is huge – probably even more than at the Olympics itself.

us olympics johnson Michael Johnson of the US celebrates winning the men’s 200m at the 1996 Summer Olympics at the Centennial Olympic Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo: David Madison / Getty Images)



“I think it’s the fairest way to choose the Olympic team. It takes the ambiguity, or any selection politics out of it,” former Olympic great Michael Johnson, who won the 200m and 400m at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, told Daily Maverick at the recent Laureus World Sports Awards in Madrid.

“I mean, no one has to select the team, the team just selects itself based on times, heights and distances.

“I will say this though – it is tough. If you’re not ready on the day, or if something happens then the US may not end up sending its best team because one of the favourites was slightly injured or sick.

“It happened to me in 2000. I picked up a slight injury before the 200m trials and didn’t get to go to Sydney for the 200m and the US didn’t win the 200m gold at those Olympics. I won the 400m, but we missed out on the half-lap gold.

“But even when things like that happen, I still believe it’s the best way to select the team.”

It is tough. Carl Lewis, perhaps the greatest modern track Olympian, missed making the 100m team for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, coming fourth in the US trials after a slight injury niggle. It cost him the chance of an unprecedented third straight 100m title.

A few weeks later a fully fit Lewis sat frustratingly on the sidelines as Britain’s Linford Christie won the 1992 100m final.

Lewis later anchored the US to the 4x100m relay gold in Barcelona with a stunning 8.9sec final leg.

Heartbreak and mental toughness


Lewis and Johnson are just two high-profile casualties of the US system. Their reputation counted for little when the crunch came. They were unluckily not at their best at the right moment because of injury.

While both had won medals before, it was still a huge blow. For athletes who might only have one shot at the Olympics, it can be devastating if they miss out.

But even reigning women’s 800m champion Athing Mu was a victim of the cutthroat selection this week.

On the second bend of the opening lap of the women’s 800m final, Mu had her heel clipped, tripped and fell. Her race and dream of a second Olympics (at least in the 800m) was over in an instant.

us olympic trials Athing Mu competes in the women’s 800m final on day four of the 2024 US Olympic Team Trials Track and Field on 23 June 2024 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. (Photo: Patrick Smith / Getty Images)



Mu continued to run but she finished 22 seconds behind winner Nia Akins (1:57.36). Allie Wilson (1:58.32) and Juliette Whittaker (1:58.45) also earned their tickets to Paris.

There may be some more casualties before the trials are over, but despite some bad luck stories, the process works.

It not only ensures the athletes are in peak condition close to the Olympics, it tests their mental strength too. If an athlete can cope with the pressure of the US trials and prevail, they will almost certainly cope with the pressure of the Olympics.

With nearly 850 medals, the success of the cutthroat selection system is clear. DM

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