Googe – AFP, 12 February 2014
Sochi — A
Canadian coach was applauded on Wednesday for showing the true spirit of the
Olympics when he helped a Russian cross country skier to finish after breaking
a ski in a crash.
Russia's
Anton Gafarov was competing in the semi-finals of the men's sprint on Tuesday
when he fell on a high speed hairpin bend that caused problems throughout the
competition.
His left
ski badly damaged, Gafarov still tried to limp to the finish but then the ski
disintegrated entirely.
With
Gafarov facing the prospect of skiing on one leg to the end, a Canadian coach
rushed to his aid and gave him a ski which Gafarov used to ski to the finish
several minutes behind the leaders.
"It is
entirely to be applauded, and that's one of the things why we all love the
Olympics," said International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams.
"As
well as being an amazing elite sport, there is something special as well, there
are values underlying it as well," he added.
Sochi 2014
spokeswoman Alexandra Kosterina added: "It is just the essence of the
Olympic Games, the Olympic spirit, in its core. So I think that is great."
The coach
was named as Canadian cross country ski coach Justin Wadsworth.
"It
was like watching an animal stuck in a trap. You can't just sit there and do
nothing about it," Wadsworth was quoted as saying by the Toronto Star.
Quite why
no Russian coach was on hand to help the unfortunate Gafarov -- and that it
needed a foreigner to come to his rescue -- remains a mystery.
"I
just had one aim -- to get to the end," Gafarov told Russian sports
website sportsdaily.ru. "Some foreigner then gave me skis from a different
firm."
Gafarov
finished the race to huge cheers from Russian supporters but visibly upset
after missing out on his chance for a place in the final.
He blasted
the track as "unfit for the Olympics", saying he had fallen as his
ski had ploughed into a clump of snow that had not been removed.
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