The International Fair Play Committee (CIFP), with the support of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), presented them with Fair Play awards today at the Olympic Club in the Olympic Park in Rio de Janeiro for two separate acts of selflessness and exemplary sportsmanship. When Nikki Hamblin and Abbey D'Agostino, two middle distance runners previously unknown to one another, clashed in the 5000m heats and fell to the ground, not many would have given them a second glance. The 24-year-old D’Agostino was quick to get up again, yet instead of carrying on with her race she stopped to help the stricken Hamblin to her feet, encouraging her to join her in attempting to finish the race. Getty Images 
 
 Speaking of this recognition after the ceremony, 28-year-old Nikki Hamblin said: “I think it’s very special for both Abbey and myself. I don’t think either of us woke up and thought that that was going to be our day, or our race, or our Olympic Games. Both of us are strong competitors and we wanted to go out there and do our best on the track.” 
 
 She added: “I was on the ground for too long to get back up and catch on to the pack. So then it becomes about finishing the race, and finishing the race well. I am so grateful to Abbey for picking me up, and I think many people would have returned the favour … Once you are on the track, there is a mutual understanding of what it takes to get there." "Everyone comes here to compete but there are a lot of people who don't achieve that and the journey is really important too.
– One of the most touching moments of the Rio Olympics has been rewarded with this year's Fair Play Awards. American runner Abbey D'Agostino and New Zealand's Nikki Hamblin, who helped each other finish the race after falling during a women's 5,000-meter heat, were given the awards Saturday night for what the IOC describes as "two separate acts of selflessness and exemplary sportsmanship." D'Agostino, who was accidentally brought down by Hamblin, helped the New Zealand runner to her feet. Hamblin then stayed with her fellow runner when she realized D'Agostino had injured her leg in the fall. "Winning this award is overwhelming," says Hamblin, per the Sydney Morning Herald. "I am proud [at] what we did and truly believe that you can be both a competitor and kind and responsive at the same time," she says. "Everyone comes here to compete, but there are a lot of people who don't achieve that, and the journey is really important, too." The IOC decided to allow both women to compete in the final, though D'Agostino was too injured to take part, the Guardian reports.