A Russian skier,Anton Gafarov, was trying valiantly to finish the race after a bad fall. He had broken one of his skis but was trying to will it to the finish line. After falling again, a Canadian coach hurried onto the track and gave him his ski to allow Gafarov to finish the race with some dignity.
You can catch it between about 30 to 60 seconds into the video on this page.
Call it payback of sorts because in 2006 a Norwegian coach threw her ski pole to a Canadian skier, Sara Renner, who had lost hers. Sara went on to defeats Norway's own skier, but the Norwegian coach, Bjornar Hakensmoen, thought it was the fair thing to do.
By the by, the Canadian coach is Justin Wadsworth, who was born in the USA. So, I guess four countries were involved in this affair: Canada, Russia, Norway and USA. Pretty neat, eh?
A fuller account of the incident may be read here.
a saw a snippet of it on msn today. really awesome. we need more of this. :)
ReplyDeleteWonderful examples of sportsmanship....
ReplyDeleteThat's really nice. I'm happy to read about it.
ReplyDeleteThat's really nice. I'm happy to read about it.
ReplyDeleteApparently, I'm twice as happy to read about it as most commentators:-)
ReplyDeleteMissed this...the Olympics is always full o such heart-warming stories.
ReplyDeleteThat is a really awesome story. Thank you for sharing it since I am not watching. Have a great day!
ReplyDeleteI read it tonight. A lovely story. I heard the athlete finished last. But at least he did finish!
ReplyDeleteIn the true Olympic spirit. We could use more of that....:)
ReplyDeleteMakes you smile, n'est-ce pas?
ReplyDeleteMakes you proud to be human. And Canadian. ;)
ReplyDeleteI heard about that unselfish act and saw a video and it was a wonderful thing to publicize.
ReplyDeleteA true moment of unity.....well done!
ReplyDeletehughugs