Our Canadian Olympic team has been amazing so far- but not just in the medal count! During the men's cross-country skiing individual free sprint event, Canadian coach Justin Wadsworth's athletes had been eliminated early on, so he had gone over to the finish line to watch the end of the men's free sprint semifinals. Russian skier Anton Gafarov had crashed and badly damaged his ski, and then crashed again while going down a hill. He was at least three minutes behind everyone else, and was trying hard to finish the last couple of hundred meters down the 1.7km track. Wadsworth watched as everybody just stared, and then quickly grabbed a spare ski kit and rushed over to his aid. Afterwards, Wadsworth merely stated, “I wanted him to have dignity as he crossed the finish line."
Another act of kindness that took place was when Canadian speed skater Gilmore Junio gave up his position in the 1000m race to his teammate Denny Morrison, after qualifying for the 1000m in the 500m race, where he placed 10th, while Morrison did not. Morrison, a two-time world championship silver medallist in the 1000m, was a specialist in that event, and ended up getting the silver medal for Canada.
This, is the Olympic spirit.
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