Abby D'Agostino's fall in the 5,000 meters Tuesday was reminiscent of UK runner Mo Farah's in the men's 10,000-meter race.
Farah would get up after tripping hard midway through the race and eventually win the gold medal. D'Agostino wasn't as fortunate. Her fall came with about 1,800 meters left in her first round race, and although she suffered severe damage to her right knee—-tearing her ACL and meniscus and also straining her MCL—-she still had the courage and determination to limp to the finish line.
Because it was determined that the fall was through no fault of her own, D'Agostino was allowed by Olympic officials to advance to Friday's final. The injury, however, will prevent that from happening. She gave this statement to the media after the race:
"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," said D'Agostino. "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."
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D'Agostino's Olympic dream may have ended prematurely, this time, but at only 24, there's a strong possibility that the 2013 NCAA Cross Country champion will be heard from again in the future.
