RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — With one shoe on and one shoe off, Etenesh Diro raised a big cheer at the Olympics on Saturday with a gutsy finish in her 3,000-meters steeplechase heat.
Initially outside the qualifying places, the Ethiopian was rewarded — following a protest by three teams, including her own — with a place in Monday's final.
This is what happened:
Diro was cruising along comfortably in the pack with a couple of laps to go when she got tangled up with some other competitors and her right shoe came half-off. For precious seconds, the Ethiopian athlete knelt on the track and tried to pull the shoe back on.