Photo: Getty Images
Imagine being an athlete running late to an Olympic event you worked hard to qualify for.
Well, Jamaican hurdler Hansle Parchment doesn’t have to imagine. The track star really was running late for a race at the Tokyo Olympics after getting on the wrong bus and ending up at the aquatics venue instead of the Olympic Stadium.
“They were telling me that I have to come back to the village and then take another bus back to the stadium. If I had done that, I wouldn’t get there in time to even warm up,” he said, according to The Huffington Post.
Thinking quickly, Parchment said he was going to try and get to the right stadium and on time by “trying to get one of the branded cars for the Games to take me, but these people are very strict and adhering to the rules, and I would have to book the car from beforehand to get it to leave,” Parchment said.
Out of options, he noticed an Olympic volunteer who he pleaded for help.
“She actually gave me some money to take one of the taxis affiliated with the whole Games, and so I was able to get to the warmup track at the stadium with enough time to warm up to compete,” he said.
After competing and eventually winning the gold medal, Parchment took a bus to find the woman, whose name is Trijana. Parchment not only repaid her, but showed his gold medal and swagged her out in a Team Jamaica shirt.
“You were instrumental in me getting to the finals that day,” he said in a video posted on Instagram.
Trijana later posted a picture with her Team Jamaica gear. "Perfect fit!" she wrote in the caption. "Thank you for the kind thoughts everyone."
Jamaican news outlet The Sunday Gleaner reported the nation's tourism minister even invited Trijana to receive a personal thank you for her kind gesture.
"It is selfless what she did; one would not know what the outcome would have been," Jamaican Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett told The Gleaner.
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