Shani Davis of the USA competes in the men's 1000m during the ISU World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships on February 11, 2017, in Gangneung, South Korea.
Shani Davis of the USA competes in the men's 1000m during the ISU World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships on February 11, 2017, in Gangneung, South Korea.
Image: ATSUSHI TOMURA/Getty Images
2016%2f09%2f16%2f8f%2fhttpsd2mhye01h4nj2n.cloudfront.netmediazgkymde1lza3.f09f1By Marcus Gilmer

With the Opening Ceremonies of the 2018 Winter Olympics less than 24 hours away, Team USA has finally selected its flag bearer. Unfortunately, the process looks like it's left some raw feelings.

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Four-time Olympian Erin Hamlin (women's luge) was named the U.S. flag bearer on Thursday night, according to NBC Sports. During the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia, Hamlin became the first U.S. athlete ever to medal in a singles luge event with a bronze. 

But speed skater Shani Davis, the first black athlete to win an individual gold medal at the Winter Olympics (during the 2006 Games), had some issues with the process. He took to Twitter to vent after losing out on the honor to Hamlin via coin toss. 

Per Deadspin, the selection works out like this: The eight federations within Team USA nominate an athlete to carry the flag and select a second athlete to cast that federation's vote. The final tally came out as a 4-4 tie between Hamlin and Davis. Hamlin won the coin toss, which was predetermined as a tie-breaker. 

To be fair, Davis' bonafides are pretty stellar, too. Competing in his fifth straight Olympics, Davis has two gold medals (1,000 meters in 2006 and 2010) and two silver medals (1,500 meters in 2006 and 2010). He's also won dozens of other medals in World Championship and World Cup competitions.

Davis has also always been outspoken, criticizing the USOC for the suits the team used during the 2014 Games and how NBC portrayed him in the previous Olympics.

Davis has previously addressed race, especially as it pertains to the very white sport of speed skating. His use of the hashtag "#BlackHistoryMonth2018" with his latest tweets has spurred some backlash on Twitter (where all discourse is civil and thoughtful, right?) with some followers accusing him of unfairly injecting race into the topic (Hamlin is white). 

Others criticized him for taking what they saw as a selfish approach to an event that encourages team unity. 

Neither Davis or Hamlin have addressed the issue further publicly. Mashable has reached out to Team USA for comment and will update this post pending any further information.