American runner Abbey D’Agostino didn’t
realize how badly she was hurt when she stopped to make sure that fellow runner
Nikki Hamblin (New Zealand) would be able to get up and keep running after a
fall on the track.
But when D’Agostino went
down in pain just a few seconds after helping her competitor, Hamblin stopped
and returned the favor.
Both were granted spots in the final, but due to
injuries sustained in their crash, D’Agostino was pulled from the race entirely
and Hamblin finished
last. Despite the fact that they would leave Rio without
fulfilling their Olympic dreams, both remained surprisingly positive:
D’Agostino: “This whole
time here [God] has 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.”
Hamblin: “You can make
friends in the moments that really should break your heart.”
But on Saturday, the International Olympic Committee (IOC)
announced that the exemplary sportsmanship both women had displayed would not
go unrecognized: D’Agostino and Hamblin became the 18th and 19th recipients of
the Pierre de Coubertin medal.
Named for the father of the modern Olympic Games, the
de Coubertin medal is not awarded at every Olympics. Rather, it is reserved for
the most exceptional displays of sportsmanship, fair play, and Olympic spirit.
Hamblin and D’Agostino join the ranks of men
like Luz Long, the German who
befriended black American track and field star Jesse Owens in 1936. Owens
had failed two attempts at the long jump when Long (his opponent) showed him
where to place his feet.
Owens went on to defeat Long for the gold, but he said
the medal was not what mattered:
“It took a lot of courage for him to befriend me in
front of Hitler. You can melt down all the medals and cups I have and they
wouldn’t be a plating on the twenty-four karat friendship that I felt for Luz
Long at that moment”.
Italian bobsledder Eugenio Monti received
the medal in 1964 when he gave a bolt from his own sled to the British team,
who had lost a bolt. The British team, led by Tony Nash, went on to win gold.
When the press asked Monti if he regretted helping his opponents, he explained:
“Nash didn’t win the gold medal because I gave him a
bolt. He won because he was the fastest.”
The IOC felt that Hamblin and D’Agostino should be
honored as well, a tribute that Hamblin called
humbling: “I am so grateful to Abbey for picking me up, and I think many people
would have returned the favor. I’m never going to forget that arm on my
shoulder.”
Chris Kahandaliyanage.
