American and New Zealand runners help each other finish race after ugly fall during women's 1500
Middle-distance runners Abbey D'Agostino of the United States and Nikki Hamblin of New Zealand both took hard falls on the track in Rio during a preliminary heat in the women's 5,000 meters on Tuesday morning, putting them well out of contention to qualify for the semifinal.
But it was what happened after their falls that was really great, as both D'Agostino and Hamblin helped each other up, made sure each was ok, and then took to finish their races, even though both looked hurt and finished much later than the rest of the field.
It was really just an excellent display of sportsmanship on both sides.
The fall happened early in the race, as D'Agostino appeared to clip Hamblin with her spikes:
Both runners hit the track hard:
D'Agostino got up first, but rather than immediately taking off she waited to make sure that Hamblin was ok:
When Hamblin got back up, they both started to run. Both were visibly upset about what had happened:
Then, D'Agostino's knee quickly started to bother her:
When D'Agostino hit the track again, this time it was Hamblin who waited, making sure D'Agostino was ok to continue:
Finally, they both got on their way. Even though they'd been lapped by the field, both runners gutted it out to cross the finish line.
Here's D'Agostino at the finish:
Afterwards, she was greeted by Hamblin, and the two shared a nice moment:
It's one of the biggest cliches in all of sports, but this moment, really, is what the Olympics are all about.