D’Agostino Out of 5000m Final with Knee Injury

In an announcement from the USATF Wednesday morning, it was revealed that Abbey D'Agostino suffered a series of injuries to her knee that will end her season and keep her out of Friday's final of the women's 5000m.

The injury, sustained when she tripped over New Zealand runner Nikki Hamblin with about 2000m to go in the semifinal, was been diagnosed as an ACL tear, miniscus tear, and strained MCL. After getting up from the initial fall, D’Agostino initially struggled to stay on her feet, clearly indicating she had suffered an injury more serious:

Although she managed to finish the race, she required a wheelchair to be transported off the track. Her finish of the 5000m will likely go down as one of the more gutsy performances of these Olympic Games. Her altruism for her fellow runner after the fall will be held as a model of sportsmanship for years to come.

In the statement, D’Agostino described the event that led to her injury:

There was about 2k to go, I was still feeling controlled, and was mentally preparing to focus and maintain contact with the lead group for the final grind,” D’Agostino said Wednesday morning in a statement. “Then in a split second, there was a woman on the ground in front of me, I tripped on her, someone behind me tripped on me, and I was on the ground. Although my actions were instinctual at that moment, the only way I can and have rationalized it is that God prepared my heart to respond that way. This whole time here he's made clear to me that my experience in Rio was going to be about more than my race performance -- and as soon as Nikki got up I knew that was it.

By far the best part of my experience of the Olympics has been the community it creates, what the Games symbolizes. Since the night of the opening ceremonies, I have been so touched by this -- people from all corners of globe, embracing their unique cultures, yet all uniting under one celebration of the human body, mind, and spirit. I just keep thinking about how that spirit of unity and peace is stronger than all the global strife we're bombarded with and saddened by on a daily basis.

D’Agostino gained a spot in the final on protest. In her absence, only Shelby Houlihan will represent the Americans as Kim Conley was unable to qualify out of the heats.