Abbey D'Agostino, who helped competitor after fall, out of final with torn ACL

ByABC News
August 17, 2016, 11:50 AM

— -- The American 5,000-meter runner who stopped to help a fallen competitor back to her feet tore a ligament in her knee and will not be able to run in the final.

Abbey D'Agostino finished the race Tuesday after helping Nikki Hamblin of New Zealand back up and urging her to finish. The two clipped heels during the late part of the race and tumbled to the ground.

Hamblin has indicated she will run in the final.

Emma Coburn, who took bronze in the women's 3,000 steeplechase, becoming the first American woman to medal in the event, reacted Wednesday:

Race officials allowed both runners into Friday's final, but D'Agostino won't be there. She was carted off the track in a wheelchair and an MRI later showed a complete tear of her right ACL, a meniscus tear, and a strained MCL.

In a statement Wednesday, she said she had known all along that her trip to Rio de Janerio was going to be more about her race performance, and as soon as Hamblin got up after the fall, her purpose for being in Brazil was clear.

"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," D'Agostino said in Wednesday's statement. "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.

"By far the best part of my experience of the Olympics has been the community it creates, what the Games symbolizes," she added. "Since the night of the opening ceremonies, I have been so touched by this -- people from all corners of globe, embracing their unique cultures, yet all uniting under one celebration of the human body, mind, and spirit. I just keep thinking about how that spirit of unity and peace is stronger than all the global strife we're bombarded with and saddened by on a daily basis."

Shelby Houlihan will represent Team USA after taking fourth in her qualifying race on Tuesday.