Canadian gymnasts console crying competitor at Olympics

A pair of Canadian athletes are receiving quite the recognition for their actions in consoling a competitor after their event at the Olympics.

Canada finished fifth in the women’s artistic all-around team final, but a clip that’s been circulating will likely stick as the lasting image of the team for all who saw it.

In a clip posted to TikTok by Ashleigh Wilmot, Canada’s Ellie Black and Shallon Olsen are seen consoling French gymnast Melanie de Jesus dos Santos following a qualifying event earlier in the Games.

THIS. This is what the #Olympics are all about 🫶

🎥: ashleigh_wilmot/TT pic.twitter.com/1BofowmiLZ

— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) August 1, 2024

The French team finished 11th in the all-around event and did not qualify for the final. They have never medalled at the Olympics in the women’s team event.

The French gymnast in the video didn’t quite have her best performance either, finishing no higher than 33rd on any individual apparatus.

“Thank you, Ellie Black, for being such a beautiful human being and doing what we all wanted to do – wrap our arms around Mélanie and Team France with all the love and support in the world! I am thrilled for you and Team Canada (great job) and even more impressed by your heart,” former US Olympian Kathy Johnson Clarke commented on X.

The United States, Italy, and Brazil took home the medals in the women’s team event. The event took place in front of a sold-out crowd at Bercy Arena, with many eyes on the star-studded American team led by four-time Olympian Simone Biles.

“Today was not my day. I feel really sad. I feel like everything I did the last two, three years, did not work out today. I’m very sad. I feel like I’ve worked for nothing the past years. I’m sad,” de Jesus dos Santos said, as per International Gymnast Media. “I did not have any confidence today. I really tried to focus. I don’t know why, but today was not my day… I tried to do my job, I tried to do gymnastics, but I wasn’t here.”

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