About two-thirds into the 5,000-meter women’s semifinal race on Tuesday, American Abbey D’Agostino clipped the heel of New Zealand’s Nikki Hamblin, and the two distance runners tumbled to the track.
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The runners were four laps from the end of the race when the incident took place. New Zealand’s Nikki Hamblin, left, and 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, Bra.
New Zealand’s Nikki Hamblin (l.) hugs Abbey D’agostino after they both managed to finish the race..
She said she would be watching the final from the stands.
Hamblin Recounts that “suddenly this hand on my shoulder, like ‘Get up, get up, we have to finish this, ‘ and I was like, ‘Yup, yup, you’re right”.
The athletes have been lauded for their sportsmanship and for epitomising the Olympic spirit. “Isn’t that so wonderful?”
“If I can even give her like one percent back of what she gave me when she helped me get up off the track that would be awesome”, Hamblin said.
The two runners toppled over one another when Hamblin stumbled in front of D’Agostino, and in addition to the minor gashes and contusions, it was reported that D’Agostino may have dislocated her knee. I’m so impressed and inspired that she did that.
Nikki Hamblin’s show of Olympic spirit with American Abbey D’Agostino in the 5000m will go down in Kiwi sporting history. I’m never going to forget that moment.
“I’m so grateful for Abbey for doing that for me”.
“We’re not going to remember how we felt after the race, Abbey’s not going to remember how bad her knee hurt, you don’t remember that stuff”.
“For her to be as young as she is, to have the wisdom and the wherewithal to realize the importance of being a good person, of sharing, of caring, is just remarkable”, the coach told the Herald. When someone asks me what happened in Rio in 20 years time, that is my story.
Her coach Make Coogan told USA Today Sports, “She did pretty much the opposite of what I told her”. Hamblin finished after 16 minutes and 43 minutes, while D’Agostino eventually finished after 17 minutes and 10 seconds, more than two minutes after the victor of the heat, Almaz Ayana, from Ethiopia. “She did the right thing”.
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“So she can help people”, Coogan said. D’Agostino was then ushered away in a wheelchair. “Why am I on the ground?'” Hamblin said.
