In January 2016, USATF successfully petitioned the IAAF to switch the Olympic schedule so Allyson Felix could go for double gold in the 200 and 400 meters. A double in Rio seemed preordained--Felix had won 200m gold at the London Olympics and 400m gold at the 2015 world championships. But the dream of two individual golds died in Eugene, and in one of the most memorable moments of the Olympics, Felix finished a surprising second in the 400 meters.

Let's back up. Felix injured her ankle last winter and started her track season extremely slowly, even limping off the track after the early rounds of the 400 at the Olympic Trials. But in the 400 final in Eugene, Felix crushed the field in 49.68 seconds, looking like the Felix of old and re-establishing herself as an Olympic favorite.

That would end up being the high point of her 2016 season. 

Eight days later, Jenna Prandini crashed across the line and outleaned Felix for third in the 200 meters, 22.53 to 22.54.

The lean @J_Prandini out leans Allyson Felix to grab the final spot on #TeamUSA in the women's 200m! #TrackTown16 pic.twitter.com/mI5xcnUUiZ

— TrackTown USA (@GoTrackTownUSA) July 11, 2016

It wouldn't be the first time a flailing body edged out the ever-graceful Felix this summer.  In the Olympic 400m final, Shaunae Miller of the Bahamas belly-flopped across the line to deny Felix gold. Braying morons on Twitter questioned the legality of the dive, but Miller more fell at the line than lunged for it, and anyone who had watched Felix's season had seen something pretty similar not that long ago. 

Felix's loss to Miller in Rio--49.44 to 49.51--was a blowout compared to the hundredth of a second that she lost by at the Trials.