Topsfield native Abbey D’Agostino’s actions were impressive enough regardless of her own injuries: after tripping over Nikki Hamblin of New Zealand in the 5,000 meters on Tuesday, she helped Hamblin up and finished the race alongside her.
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American Abbey D’Agnostino and Nikki Hamblin of New Zealand were 3,000m into the race today when D’Agnostino appeared to clip Hamblin’s heel, sending both tumbling to the ground.
With Hamblin lying on the floor behind her, D’Agostino got back to her feet but refused to continue the race. But the camera then came back to D’Agostino and she was back on her feet and running again. “When I went down it was like, ‘what’s happening?”
You haven’t had to look far this Games for displays of kindness and camaraderie that embody the Olympic spirit.
“Get up. We have to finish this”.
“I am so grateful to Abbey for doing that for me”, Hamblin said. “That girl is the Olympic spirit right there”, said Hamblin, who was also granted a place in the final despite not qualifying. Making the moment even more special, it was the first time the girls had ever met. Nikki couldn’t help calling Abbey “an incredible woman” for her Olympic spirit! “I was waiting for the decision and I could not practice, I just did warmup”, she said.
Even more, she’s not sure how she was able to make it across the finish line with a banged-up right knee.
United States’ Abbey D’Agostino after competing in 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.
Though D’Agostino suffered an ankle injury in the collision and herself fell to the ground, Hamblin sportingly hung back to offer her encouragement, too.
Hours later, race officials sent out a simple alert: The Track Referee, after examining the video of the race, was advancing both women into Friday’s final.
“I’m never going to forget that moment”.
“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”. And isn’t that just so amazing?’ “When someone asks me what happened in Rio in 20 years’ time, that’s my story”.
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Both runners continued through the rest of the race (a runner has to complete 12.5 laps around the track to finish the heat). Hamblin eventually left her side, but waited for her to cross the finish line and helped her to a wheelchair.
