American runner who helped an opponent back up after an ugly fall ran a mile with some gruesome injuries to finish race
American runner Abby D'Agostino helped create one of the great moments of the Rio Olympics on Tuesday when she helped a fallen New Zealand runner get back to her feet in the 5,000-meter preliminary heat.
D'Agostino and Nikki Hamblin collided about midway through the race, and D'Agostino stopped running to help Hamblin get back up.
Then, as they continued running, D'Agostino collapsed, clearly injured, and Hamblin helped her back up before they both continued the race.
D'Agostino ended up finishing the race, and it was revealed on Wednesday that she did so with some gruesome injuries: a torn right ACL, a torn meniscus, and strained MCL.
She ran almost a mile on these injuries!
This was D'Agostino, clealry in pain, getting back up to run, with some help from Hamblin. She still had somewhere between four and five laps to go.
When she crossed the line, she was exhausted and met Hamblin for a hug:
Hamblin then called for a medic and D'Agostino was taken away in a wheelchair.
On Wednesday, D'Agostino released a passionate statement about the moment, via USA Track and Field:
"There was about 2k to go, I was still feeling controlled, and was mentally preparing to focus and maintain contact with the lead group for the final grind," D'Agostino said Wednesday morning in a statement. "Then in a split second, there was a woman on the ground in front of me, I tripped on her, someone behind me tripped on me, and I was on the ground. 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. This whole time here he's made clear to me that my experience in Rio was going to be about more than my race performance -- and as soon as Nikki got up I knew that was it.
"By far the best part of my experience of the Olympics has been the community it creates, what the Games symbolizes. Since the night of the opening ceremonies, I have been so touched by this -- people from all corners of globe, embracing their unique cultures, yet all uniting under one celebration of the human body, mind, and spirit. I just keep thinking about how that spirit of unity and peace is stronger than all the global strife we're bombarded with and saddened by on a daily basis."
Her coach Make Coogan told USA Today Sports, "She did pretty much the opposite of what I told her. And I am so glad she did."
D'Agostino and Hamblin were both given exemptions to make the next round, but clearly, this is the end of D'Agostino's Olympics. As we see so often in the games, it's not always the results that make for the best stories.