Olympic Trials Results:
1. Monique Hennagan 49.56 (participated in Olympic 4 x 400 final)
2. Sanya Richards 49.89 (participated in Olympic 4 x 400 final)
3. DeeDee Trotter 50.28 (participated in Olympic 4 x 400 final)
4. Crystal Cox 50.52 (ran a heat leg)
5. Monique Henderson 50.75 (participated in Olympic 4 x 400 final)
6. Moushaumi Robinson (ran a heat leg)
The participation of the first three runners makes sense.
I don't know why Monique Henderson got to run the final instead of Crystal Cox. However, Crystal is the Brooks coached athlete, not Monique. Therefore, it hardly seems like a case against Brooks that Monique got to run in the final.
As far as the Olympic heat is concerned, each of the participants finished in the top 6 at the trials, and nobody finished ahead of them. Also, it is nothing new to use trials 5th and 6th place finishers to run a heat, so that some of the finalists will be fresh.
If a runner who wasn't one of the top 6 trials finishers ended up being one of the 6 runners that ran, there would be reason for concern.
Should a non-participant get a spot instead of a trials participant? I guess it is a matter of who you ask. A participant and their family members would probably answer no, and you couldn't blame them for doing so. In fact, if Jearl was picked instead of a participant, one of her supporters might have started a thread to complain.
The main argument in Jearl's favor is her superior PR. I don't know if this settles the argument. Considering the results, probably not.
[quote]VillanovaGrad wrote:
No, OBN, a couple of the girls, including Crystal Cox who is coached by Brooks Johnson, and M. Robinson, who were named to the Athens relay pool, finished fifth and six at the US Olympic Trials... with PRs a LOT slower than Jearl's. Both girls ran slow in the prelims. I think it is their inclusion over Jearl that has really upset US track fans. While it is nice they got the chance, they did not get the opportunity based on merit, but rather politics. That's WRONG.