The whole point of the Olympic Trials system is that it provides no special love to big names, and these Trials have been particularly harsh to superstars on the tail end of their careers. The most recent casualty was Trey Hardee. The 2011 decathlon world champion ran a 72-second 400m today, scoring 90 points and effectively removing himself from contention for this Olympic team. His worry before the Trials about the lack of discretion in the selection process proved eerily prescient:


But Hardee can take the world's tiniest amount of solace in the fact that he wasn't the only legend to crash out of the meet in the last 48 hours. 2011 world 800m silver medalist Nick Symmonds scratched with a stress fracture the day before the meet started. 2012 400m gold medalist Sanya Richards-Ross dropped out halfway through in her prelim, effectively ending her career. 2004 Olympic 400m gold medalist Jeremy Wariner scratched and clawed his way to the semifinals...but then dropped out of his race today. 2004 Olympic 1500m silver medalist and 2007 1500/5K double world champion Bernard Lagat was in position to qualify in the 10K, but stepped off the track when Hassan Mead passed him for third place.

And in the throws, two Olympic gold medalists trying to make it back to the biggest track meet in the game came up just short. 2004 shot put gold medalist Adam Nelson came out of retirement this year and finished seventh; 2008 discus gold medalist Stephanie Brown Trafton was fifth.

The Olympic Trials doesn't bother making sure that the door won't hit you on the way out.