ANALYSIS/OPINION:

The honor of which American athlete would carry the American flag for Team USA at the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics came down to a coin flip today in Pyeongchang. And the athlete on the losing end of that flip is not pleased.

Speed skater Shani Davis decided to not participate in today’s ceremonies after he lost the flip to luger Erin Hamlin.

Davis took to Twitter and evoked African American history month in his commentary on the events.

I am an American and when I won the 1000m in 2010 I became the first American to 2-peat in that event. @TeamUSA dishonorably tossed a coin to decide its 2018 flag bearer. No problem. I can wait until 2022. #BlackHistoryMonth2018 #PyeongChang2018 pic.twitter.com/dsmTtNkhJs — Shani Davis (@ShaniDavis) February 8, 2018

Hamlin, a woman, is white.

According to AFP, US Olympic committee defends their method in selecting the flag-bearer:

USOC spokesman Mark Jones told a press conference: “The Team USA flag bearer is selected using a detailed selection procedure that is fully driven by athletes. “As is always the case, there were many worthy candidates for this year’s honor and we look forward to having four-time Olympian Erin Hamlin lead our delegation into the opening ceremony of the Olympic Winter Games Pyeongchang 2018.”

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