Instead of just taking off for the finishing line, D’Agostino crouched down and helped the New Zealander get back on her feet, urging her not to quit.
Advertisement
Speaking to a media outlet after the race, Hamblin said “When I went down it was like, ‘what’s happening?” And then suddenly there’s this hand on my shoulder. This is the Olympic Games – we have to finish this. “Although my actions were instinctual at that moment, the only way I can and have rationalized it is that God prepared my heart to respond that way”, D’Agostino said in Wednesday’s statement.
“I am so grateful to Abbey for doing that for me”.
“I ve never met her before, like I ve never met this girl before, and isn t that just so incredible?”
Hamblin described D’Agostino as “an wonderful woman” and revealed that the pair had never met before the collision.
In the 5K prelims Tuesday morning, American runner Abbey D’Agostino and Kiwi Nikki Hamblin had a nasty collision in the last mile of the race. It was evident D’Agostino was hurt, but the extent of her injuries wasn’t immediately clear.
An MRI exam Tuesday revealed a complete tear of her ACL.
“When someone asks me what happened in Rio in 20 years” time, that is my story”, Hamblin said after the race.
She could have kept running, pursuing an Olympic dream after four years of rigorous training.
“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”.
“I’m never going to forget that moment”.
A 5,000 metre runner halted mid-race to help a fallen athlete in what many are calling a true demonstration of sportsmanship at the Rio Olympics. 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, 24, collided with New Zealand’s Nikki Hamblin, 28, in the fourth lap of the race.
Advertisement
The two finished the race far behind the rest of the pack and much slower than their usual times, but since they weren’t at fault for the fall, they were advanced to Friday night’s final.
