Last on track, but a long-lasting memory
Nikki Hamblin may not be a golden girl in the athletics world, but she’s become a famed Olympian after her exploits in Rio, writes Marc Hinton.
NIKKI Hamblin was bruised, battered and, frankly, a little overwhelmed. But the 28-year-old Kiwi was never going to miss yesterday’s final of the 5000 metres in Rio as long as she had the strength in her legs to make it to the start-line.
That Hamblin tailed the field home in a slow time of 16min 14.24sec − lapped by Kenyan gold medallist Vivian Jepkemoi Cheryuiot who recorded an Olympic record 14:26.17 − was really neither here nor there.
The New Zealander became one of the symbols of goodwill and sportsmanship of the entire Games when she stopped to assist American Abbey D’Agostino around the track in her heat, after the pair had got tangled and crashed to the ground in a bad fall with still 2000m remaining.
In images that went around the world, Hamblin encouraged and assisted a crestfallen D’Agostino, who ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament in the fall, to complete the event. It was pure sportsmanship and grace, and moved people all over the globe.
Both were subsequently added, on review, to the field for the final, though only Hamblin was in any shape to front up. And as she explained afterwards, she was a long way from her best.
‘‘There was a little bit of a shoulder problem, and a little sprained ankle, but everyone goes to the start line less than perfect at this level,’’ she said. ‘‘My ankle doesn’t quite work the way I want it to work, and 12 laps felt like quite a long way.’’
A flurry of media interviews after the heat incident became a major international story had left Hamblin closeting herself away over the last few days to refocus for the final.
‘‘Yesterday I did nothing but hide in my room, and today was the same, just to get ready for tonight because I was still here to compete and put my best out there,’’ she told NZN.
‘‘You can’t choose what happens to you, but you can choose what you do about it, and I wanted to be brave and go and run in an Olympic final.’’
She did just that, sucking up the pain and the discomfort to run those 12 and a-half laps and complete what she admitted had become a memorable Games for her.
In so many ways, memorable FOR all the right reasons too. More Olympics action and reaction SPORT, p16-18 PHOTOSPORT