Two Olympic athletes who helped each other across the finish line after a mid-race collision in the women’s 5,000m have been granted places in tomorrow’s final, organizers said.
Nikki Hamblin and Abbey D’Agostino were praised for their sporting behavior after they clashed in Tuesday’s heat.
The drama unfolded when US runner D’Agostino clipped New Zealander Hamblin with about 2,000m to go, sending both sprawling to the ground.
Photo: EPA
As Hamblin lay on the track distraught, her hopes for an Olympic medal seemingly evaporated, D’Agostino tenderly helped her to her feet and encouraged her to finish the race.
“I went down, and I was like: ‘What’s happening? Why am I on the ground?’” Hamblin said. “Then 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. This is the Olympic Games. We have to finish this.’”
“I’m so grateful for Abbey for doing that for me. That girl is the Olympic spirit right there,” Hamblin said. “I’ve never met her before, like I’ve never met this girl before, and isn’t that just so amazing? Such an amazing woman.”
D’Agostino sustained an ankle injury in the collision, but Hamblin deliberately hung back in the field to offer encouragement as the two women completed the race.
“If I can even give her like 1 percent back of what she gave me when she helped me get up off the track, that would be amazing,” Hamblin said.
Initially it looked as if both women and a third runner involved in the collision — Jennifer Wenth of Austria — had failed to qualify for the final.
However a statement by Olympic organizers late on Tuesday said all three had been advanced to the final.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
Inter’s defense of their Italian Serie A title was hit with a setback on Sunday as they lost 1-0 at home to AS Roma, while Scott McTominay netted a brace as SSC Napoli beat Torino 2-0 to go top of the table. No fixtures were played on Friday or Saturday because of the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome, meaning the full round of Serie A matches took place on Sunday and yesterday. Matias Soule’s first-half strike for Roma knocked Inter off top spot earlier in the day before new Napoli opened up a three-point buffer with victory in Sunday’s
Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa yesterday set a women’s only world record of 2 hours, 15 minutes, 50 seconds as she won the London Marathon, while Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe put a star-studded men’s field to the sword. For 28-year-old Assefa it was ample compensation for finishing runner-up in London and the Paris Olympics last year — especially as bitter Dutch rival, the Ethiopia-born Sifan Hassan, finished third. Assefa dropped Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei as the race, played out in blazing sunshine and with thousands lining the route, entered its business end. She came home almost three minutes clear of the Kenyan. Hassan, who beat her in
RSS