>>> breaking news now from the u.s. track and field olympic trials. a tie breaker to determine who represents the u.s. at the games has been called off. the runoff which was to settle this dramatic third-place finish in the women's 100 meters was scheduled for today in eugene, oregon . we learned one of the two runners in that photo finish has pulled out of the race, given the olympic spot to her competitor allison felix .
>> mary pilan is in oregon . mary , first of all, what can you tell us about why she decided to concede the spot right now?
>> reporter: sure, sure. so our reporting this morning was that she had decided to pull out because she looked at the photo finish and some of her coaches that we talked to said that when originally it was deemed a third place finish rather than a dead heat and that was later reversed that tarmo took issue with that and thought when i finished that race i really finished third. and running in a runoff thad be acknowledging it was a tie when she felt that it was indeed a third-place finish.
>> so she feels like she was robbed?
>> reporter: just to paraphrase the conversations i've had, yes. and that opens up interesting questions for what happens now. and she's definitely going to be on the relay team is my understanding as is felix . felix had a stellar race in the later trials. and they share a coach. so i think there was a lot of concern about fatigue if they did a runoff today. but sounds like more going back to that original, you know, now infamous photo that sparked tamough's change.
>> can she pursue action against the olympic committee ?
>> you know, that's an interesting question. and i'm not sure anybody really knows that right now. i think it's an interesting thing for sports players to muse about. if there was anything, i don't know if it was be the usoc or usa track and field the governing body of the sport. and as we reported earlier this week kind of had to rewrite the books on this because a dead heat in and of itself is an extraordinary circumstance, let alone a dead heat for a third-place finish. and the top three who make the standard go. everything about this statistically is unbelievable and has baffled people. so it follows that theme of we don't know yet.
>> what is allyson felix saying about this?
>> her agents put out a statement that, you know, until she was told by usatf that she was ready to run until told otherwise. the thing to remember about felix and tarmoh is they trained together and both are extremely graceful competitors. it doesn't seem like they were angry at each other ever. they both understood. they're both professional athletes. they understood this was an extraordinary decision. and it sounds like they've been trying to do as much as they can to, you know, both be friends but also friend lid competitors.
>> thank you so much mary pilon. breaking news, there will be no runoff tonight out in eugene, oregon . mary pilon, thank you. appreciate that.
Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/newsnation/48048278/
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