Hamblin, about to continue the race, stopped to help the 24-year-old American up and the pair battled on to finish 15th and 16th respectively.
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A little over halfway through second heat of the women’s 5,000m qualifiers, D’Agnostino clipped New Zealand’s Nikki Hamblin from behind, sending both runners tumbling to the ground.
After the race, Hamblin said: “She helped me first”. But when had the chance to leave her competitor in the dust, she chose to help her instead.
Hamblin spoke to reporters after the race. Hamblin finished at 16 minutes and 43 seconds; D’Agostino passed the line at 17 minutes and 10 seconds, over two minutes after the heat’s victor, Ethiopia’s Almaz Ayana.
D’Agostino fell in a chain-reaction collision with New Zealand runner Nikki Hamblin during the qualifying round Tuesday, and both runners ended up sprawled on the track.
“She was like, “go on, go on, I don’t know if I can run, keep going, keep going!'” said Hamblin, “She was saying, ‘I can’t put weight on my knee”.
But D’Agostino got the worst of the collision.
“What’s hit me? Why am I on the ground?” told reporters she thought when the two collided.
“When I turned around at the finish line, and she’s still running, I was like, “Wow”.
D’Agostino remarkably finished the race despite the severe injury, and she was taken off the track in a wheel chair after finishing.
“There was about 2k to go, I was still feeling controlled, and was mentally preparing to focus and maintain contact with the lead group for the final grind”, D’Agostino, who is from Topsfield, Mass., said Wednesday morning in a statement.
Two female athletes have been praised for embodying “the Olympic spirit” following incredible show of sportsmanship.
D’Agostino’s fall, and what happened after, became one of the stories of the Games. I’ve never met this girl before, and isn’t that just so incredible? Like I never met this girl before. Hamblin returned the encouraging gesture and helped D’Agostino for a bit of the run.
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Race officials allowed both runners into Friday’s final, but D’Agostino won’t be there.
