And so this weekend we come to the end of the quadrennial worldwide ritual known as the Summer Olympic Games. They also advanced an ancient Olympic ideal that has been under siege here in Rio, amid all the sound and fury about doping and Ryan Lochte’s night out.
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Now the International Olympic Committee has made a decision to award the New Zealander the prestigious Pierre de Coubertin medal.
“That’s when I started to rekindle more the sheer joy of the sport”, said D’Agostino, who is now 24.
Shortly after the race started, Nikki Hamblin from New Zealand tripped on the ground, causing U.S. athlete Abbey D’Agostino to collide with her, who also fell. American Abbey D’Agostino, running right behind Hamblin, tripped and fell as well.
Hamblin is being increasingly tipped as the latest recipient after she stopped to assist rival Abbey D’Agostino who was in agony on the track after both fell during their 5000m heat. I’ve never met her before. I don’t think either of us woke up and thought that that was going to be our day, or our race, or our Olympic Games. Five-year-old Finn McManus, watching back in Ireland, wrote a letter to Conlan offering him his own school medal instead. Conlan was moved and plans to meet the boy after the games.
Author of “The Devil Wears Pinstripes” and victor of a Sports Emmy.
Kim Rhode: A bronze in skeet shooting here extended her streak of winning a medal to six consecutive Games. “I can not understand how she did that”. With Rio 2016 the last major meet for both of them, Lochte and Phelps decided to make the most of it.
Yes. During the 5,000 m qualifiers, D’Agostino clipped Hamblin from behind and they both tumbled over. Many fans were outraged. But Felix maintained her cool and, within seconds of the decision, walked over to both check on Miller as she remained on the ground and congratulate her on the win. “It wasn’t my best race”, Felix said later. He is putting it up for sale to raise money for a three-year-old Polish boy with a rare cancer. “He knows it’s “yes”, she said afterwards. “For the health of this fantastic boy”.
Aly Raisman, captain of Team USA’s uber-popular artistic gymnastic team, had hopes of taking home a gold medal in the all-around competition. She moved out of the Olympic village and into her parents’ hotel room in Copacabana, because she couldn’t even take a shower without assistance.
Similarly, the achievements of Dublin woman Annalise Murphy, who finished just outside the medals in London four years ago, and in the intervening period pursued her burning ambition with single-minded intent to come away with a silver medal in Rio; and the breakthrough heroics of silver medal winners, the astonishing O’Donovan brothers, Gary and Paul, from the townland of Lisheen, near Skibbereen in west Cork, and of course their subsequent celebration of the springtime of humanity, will live long in the memory. We salute you all. “I was so thankful and just drawn to what I felt like was a real manifestation of God’s work in my life”. “We love you Mama Aly”.
Well, it is when one of those athletes is Hong Un-jong from North Korea, and the other Lee Eun Ju from South Korea.
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“This is why we do the Olympics”, political scientist Ian Bremmer said on Twitter. And those two together are very important for us.
