Australian athletes wait for final runner to cross the finish line
It was an act of sportsmanship that will help define the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
As Lineo Chaka, representing the southern African nation of Lesotho, ran the last few laps of the women's 10,000 metres on her own at Carrara Stadium on Monday night, three Australian athletes stayed on the track waiting for her to finish.
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Celia Sullohern, Madeline Hills and Eloise Wellings had all crossed the finish line minutes earlier.
In fact, the 18th placegetter out of the field of 19, Scotland's Beth Potter, had completed her race more than three minutes before Chaka entered the home straight on the final lap of what was her first attempt at running a 10,000m.
Sullohern, Hills and Wellings were exhausted after what had been an exciting straight final of the 10,000m, won by Uganda's Stella Chesang.
Yet as Chaka approached the finish line, with the almost-capacity crowd urging her on, the three Australians were clapping and cheering the 30-year-old, encouraging her to run as strongly as she could.
Once the tired Chaka had come to a standstill, after stopping the clock at 36:55.77, she was met with hugs from Sullohern, Hills and Wellings in a moment befitting the 'Friendly Games' moniker that is always associated with the Commonwealth Games.
'We're there for each other'
For Sullohern, who had produced a spirited display to finish sixth in a personal best of 31:50.75, the show of support for Chaka was simply what she and her teammates had wanted to do.
"We're there for each other and we're out there having a go," Sullohern said.
"So, it was lovely to stand out there with those girls in a bit of a show of, I hope, Aussie sportsmanship."
After the race, Chaka admitted the "pace was too hard" for her, which is why she struggled from the early stages.
Hills, who was eighth in 32:01.04, sympathised with Chaka, as the Rio Olympian explained all long distance runners face similar challenges.
This means they always want to be there for each other when times are tough on the track.
"All of us just went out there hoping to do the best we could on the day, and sometimes that's 31 minutes and sometimes that's 35 minutes," Hills said.
"I'd like to think if I had that day there would be someone standing on the track for me."
Commonwealth Games prove sportsmanship isn't dead.
The issue of sportsmanship, in an Australian context, has been debated at length following the recent ball-tampering controversy in cricket.
But moments such as what played out at Carrara Stadium and Claire Tallent's touching embrace of Jemima Montag after being disqualified in the women's 20km walk on Sunday, have restored faith that sportsmanship is not dead.
As Hills points out, the athletes at the Commonwealth Games may be competing against each other, but they also need to support and encourage one another as well.
"I think as much as we're all racing each other it is that … we go out, we work our butts off and you just want to have a great moment," she said.
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