The most memorable moment of the women’s 10,000-meter race at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games on Monday may have arrived not with the first finisher, but with the last.
In a moving display of sportsmanship, the three Australian women who had long preceded Lineo Chaka across the finish line in Carrara, Australia, stopped, turned around and waited — and waited — as Chaka finished her final three laps.
“I just love racing with those two girls — they’re such classy athletes,” Celia Sullohern, who finished sixth in 31:50.75, told Australia’s Herald Sun, speaking of her teammates. “I think that’s the strength of Australian distance running particularly. We’re there for each other and we’re all out there having a go.
“It was lovely to stand there and show what I hope was a bit of Aussie sportsmanship.”
Scotland’s Beth Potter, the next-to-last finisher in the field of 19, had crossed the line more than three minutes before Chaka, who was representing the African nation of Lesotho, entered the home stretch of the final lap. Sullohern, Madeline Hills (eighth in 32:01.04) and Eloise Wellings (16th in 32:51.47) had all crossed the finish line minutes earlier, beaten by Uganda’s Stella Chesang (31:45.30).