The true Olympic spirit...

Ok folks, lets try and keep this thread Russian bashing free can we please out of respect for the athletes?

This story just goes to show that the Olympic spirit lives on, no matter what the gutter press want to say about the Olympic games :

The true Olympic spirit has been displayed by Canadian cross-country ski coach Justin Wadsworth, who helped Russian athlete Anton Gafarov with his broken ski during the Men's Sprint Free Semifinals at the Sochi Games.

Check RT’s special coverage of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games

Gafarov’s start wasn’t smooth. He fell three times, crashing early in the race and breaking his ski. It was clear that Gafarov was out of the race for the men’s finals and wouldn’t be able to compete for medals.

Still, he wanted to finish in front of the home crowd, but his left ski was too badly damaged in the crash and its base had come off.

The Russian skier faced finishing the race by walking to the line, not skiing.

Full story here : rt.com...

Yea yea, I know i used RT as a source but just Google the story and you will find it elsewhere too.

Video here :



Kindest respects

Rodinus

That is not only Team Spirit, that is excellent Human Spirit. We should all do this type of thing daily regardless of race, religion, gender, etc. We see someone that needs help? We help. Compassion goes a long way and you never know when you will be the brightest spot in someone's day, week, or even month!

S&F for that warm, squishy feeling this gave me.

Good to see that some in todays world understand and show good sportsmanship rather than be blinded by nationalism , politics or religion.. well done by both the canadian and the russian

reply to post by Kangaruex4Ewe


Yup...

Makes you proud sometimes to be a human when we can all act and behave as civic and respectful human beings...

Bravo to all those athletes taking place at Sotchi... regardless of their, colour, origins or religion.

Kindest respects

Rodinus

reply to post by Rodinus


I am ignorant of the prescise rules of every sport - but many competetive events have a rule [ paraphrased ] :

" if a competitor receives unauthourised external assistance to complete the course - they are disqualified "

ignorant_ape
reply to post by Rodinus

 

I am ignorant of the prescise rules of every sport - but many competetive events have a rule [ paraphrased ] :

" if a competitor receives unauthourised external assistance to complete the course - they are disqualified "

These are the Olympics, a time to show each other the meaning of sportsmanship and fairplay.

The Russian athelete knew very well that he would not win, so therefore the risk of him being disqualified probably didn't really matter to him.

It was the action that counts.

Kindest respects

Rodinus

I'm not video savvy, so I don't know how to find it, but didn't the Canadians also give a ski pole to an American male, when he broke his?

I believe it was in the same race, where the American fell, went to get up, and an Italian elbowed him in the face, knocking his sunglasses off, (accident).

Anyways, I really like listening to when they interview the Olympians, and they talk about how nice it is to meet the people of other countries.

So far, it sounds like the Russian people have been very nice to everyone.