United States’ Abbey D’Agostino is helped from the track after a women’s 5000-meter heat during the athletics competitions of the 2016 Summer Olympics at the Olympic stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016.
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3,000 meters into the dash, New Zealand’s Nikki Hamblin took a nasty step and tumbled to the ground, bringing the United States’ Abbey D’Agostino down with her on accident.
“If I can even give her like 1 per cent back of what she gave me when she helped me get up off the track that would be fantastic”.
She said she would be watching the final from the stands.
The US athlete and New Zealander Nikki Hamblin were lauded for embodying true Olympic spirit after Hamblin fell during the race, tripping up D’Agostino. “I can’t even put into words how unbelievable it is that she actually finished”.
“I’m so impressed and inspiring that she did that”.
D’Agostino’s coach Mark Coogan told USA TODAY Sports that his pupil did the opposite of what he taught her, “and I’m glad she did”.
“God prepared my heart to respond that way”, D’Agostino said in a statement. Obviously, she did pretty much the opposite of that, and the world got to see the kind of person she is. “When I turned around at the finish line and she’s still running I was like, “Wow”. “I told her to get up, dust herself off, have a quick look around and then get right back to running”. “They’ll be a recovery period but I think in a year from now there’s a very good chance she’ll be back as good as she ever was”. “Such an incredible woman”. Like I never met this girl before.
Olympic officials also decided that both runners, and Austria’s Jennifer Wenth, who was also affected by the collision, would have spots in Friday’s final, but D’Agostino won’t make it.
Coogan said D’Agostino, who graduated Dartmouth with a Psychology degree in 2014, will work on getting a PhD.in Psychology.
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Both women went on to finish the race, D’Agostino clearly injured, and scans on Wednesday revealed the American had completed the final 2,000m despite a torn right anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus and a strained medial collateral ligament.
