Olympic viewers have major respect after athlete makes unexpected sacrifice to help his teammate
Mia Williams
Featured Image Credit: Michael Steele/Getty Images / Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
A Team GB star who gave up his position in the Olympic triathlon event for his teammate to win gold has been praised by viewers.
The men's triathlon was set to take place yesterday [July 30], but due to dirty water conditions, the event was postponed until earlier today.
And it saw a win for Team GB, after Alex Yee won the gold medal, becoming Britain's second Olympic triathlon champion.
But if it hadn't have been for his heroic teammate Sam Dickinson giving up his place in the race, he may never have achieved victory.
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Dickinson pushed himself to the absolute limits on the bike, making it first into what is known as the 'transition area', which helped Yee to head out in fourth place for the running segment of the sporting event.
During this leg of the race, Dickinson started to ease off, and gestured to the crowd as he sacrificed his place in the race for running expert Yee.
But it wasn't plain sailing from here for Yee, as he still had to overtake New Zealand's Hayden Wilde to achieve gold.
And that's exactly what he did.
He seemed to - out of nowhere - dig deep inside and find the motivation to sprint to win six seconds clear.
But some said it was Dickinson that deserved the credit for being the best teammate.
One fan said: "Credit to Sam Dickinson, who sacrificed himself to make the last lap on the bike and the start of the run so hard and blew the field apart."
Another added: "Sam Dickinson - the ultimate teammate! Hyping Alex Yee up."
And a third said: "Huge respect for Sam Dickinson too in the job he did today."
Yee then went onto celebrate with his teammate, who has also been one of his life-long friends.
Upon winning the medal, Yee said: "He has been my housemate growing up, through Uni and freshers, so special.
"This guy, we lived together for two to three years, he got me out of bed a few times. I’m so proud of him. We’ll share a relay team together. We’ll try make this guy’s dreams come true later on."
Dickinson added: “What a day, Alex is special. Alex won, I didn’t win, stepping off the course, one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.
"It’s not about me, helping a mate achieve his dreams, is special."
Is someone cutting onions?!