Rio Olympics 2016: Two Runners Embody the Olympic Spirit and Inspire the World
US Runner Abbey D'Agostino together with New Zealand's Nikki Hamblin received international acclaim for helping each other get up after stumbling on the track at the 5,000 meter qualifying heats of the Rio Olympics.
The selfless actions of the two runners have been hailed as one of the greatest and most memorable moments of the 2016 Rio Olympics with many saying the two embodied the essence of the Olympic Spirit.
Unfortunate Accident
Abbey D'Agostino and Nikki Hamblin were in the middle of the 5,000 meter race when other runners jostled and bumped the two causing them to both crash on the track.
Hamblin had a very hard fall and tears overcame her because the chance of an Olympic medal seemed to be slipping away.
Fallen Olympian
D'Agostino got up first and attempted to pick up where she left off and catch up with the rest. Hamblin was still in emotional agony on the ground.
Instead of leaving Hamblin behind, D'Agostino put her hands on her shoulder and pulled up the fallen Olympian on her feet. "Get up. We have to finish this," D'Agostino told her. They would finish the race together.
Serious Injury
The two were running again and Hamblin seems to have recovered her determination, but unbeknownst to her D'Agostino injured her ankle seriously when she fell. D'Agostino did not tell Hamblin about it. However, the injury exacerbated as the two ran and eventually D'Agostino couldn't take it anymore and collapsed in pain unable to go on.
This time it was Hamblin's turn to lend her strength and encourage her rival to keep on.
Finishing Together
Every time D'Agostino's ankle experienced pain, she stopped but Hamblin came back and helped her stand up.
The two reached the finish line and were in last place. They had failed to qualified for the next round.
D'Agostino was carried out on a wheelchair because she was too injured to walk out of the track on her own.
Before the two Olympians parted D'Agostino and Hamblin embraced each other.
Before the two Olympians left the track, D'Agostino and Hamblin embraced each other and made Olympic history.
Redemption
The Olympic Committee reviewed their stumble in the race and saw that it was caused by other runners. The committee announced that both D'agostino and Hamblin are qualified to run in the finals on Friday night August 19 if both feel strong enough to compete by then.
International Acclaim
The New York Times had great praise for the two Olympians saying that "Hamblin and D'Agostino set aside their own hopes of making the final to look out for a fellow competitor. They provided a memory that captured the Olympic spirit."
Rick Maese of the Washington Post beautiful described the circumstances of D'Agostino and Hamblin saying, "They were strangers at the starting line, a 24-year-old American graduate who barely qualified for the Rio Olympics and a British -born runner who migrated to New Zealand seven years ago. Less than 20 minutes later, they found themselves eternally linked - by circumstance, by action, by benevolence."
According to a New York Times report Hamblin said at the end of the race: "I'm never going to forget that moment. When someone asks me what happened in Rio in 20 years' time, that's my story ... That girl shaking my shoulder, saying 'come on, get up'."
