In what is being hailed as a true show of Olympic spirit, New Zealand runner Nikki Hamblin helped U.S. competitor Abbey D’Agostino cross the finish line in the women’s 5000-metre semifinal Tuesday after the pair were involved in a mid-race collision.
Just four laps into the race, D’Agostino fell and clipped Hamblin who came tumbling down with her.
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“When I went down, I was like, ‘What’s happening? Why am I on the ground?’ ” Hamblin told media after the race. “And suddenly there’s this hand on my shoulder like, ‘Get up, get up, we have to finish this.”
But as D’Agostino helped Hamblin to her feet and urged her to keep running, she collapsed back onto the track. She would later learn she tore a ligament in her knee as a result of the fall.
Hamblin, however, didn’t leave her side.
Instead she returned the favour, helping D’Agostino to her feet, and getting her started around the track again. Hamblin eventually left her side, but waited for her to cross the finish line and helped her to a wheelchair.
“I am so grateful to Abbey for doing that for me,” Hamblin said. “That girl is the Olympic spirit right there. I am so impressed and inspired.”
Hamblin finished the 5000-metre race in 16:43:61, and D’Agostino 17:10:02. Both times were obviously outside of their personal bests; however, Race officials allowed both runners into Friday’s final.
D’Agostino, unfortunately, won’t be able to participate due to the torn ligament in her knee.
In a statement issued Wednesday, she said she had known all along that her trip to Rio de Janerio was going to be more about her race performance, and as soon as Hamblin got up after the fall, her purpose for being in Brazil was clear.
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The two runners had never met each other before colliding in the race.
“Everyone wants to win and get a medal, but as disappointing as it is, there is so much more to this,” Hamblin said, according to USA Today.
“For sure [we have] a friendship now. When someone asks me what happened in Rio in 20 years time, that is my story. She is my story.”
During the 2014 Sochi Olympics, Canada’s head cross-country ski coach Justin Wadsworth made headlines after rushing to help a Russian skier when the athlete crashed in the semifinal of the men’s freestyle sprint and broke one of his skis.
Cross-country skier Anton Gafarov tumbled on the course as he was heading down the hill toward the finish line. With a new ski in hand, Wadsworth rushed toward the struggling athlete and fixed the new ski to Gafarov’s ski boot.
–With a file from The Associated Press
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