Haitian sprinter Jeffrey Julmis quite literally fell at the first hurdle, but don’t think for a second that was going to stop him.
In a 110m hurdle semi final that ended up being a sort of metaphor for life, Julmis stacked it painfully almost as soon as he left the starting line. But knowing that he was representing his country at the Olympics, the resilient athlete hopped up and ran the remainder of the race, to the approval of those watching on.
It was all looking good for the 29-year-old Florida-born runner in the lead-up to the event. In a tweet beforehand he promised to ‘leave it all on the track ‘.
I've been racing since I was 7 years old!!! 7th ave made me who I am!! I will leave it all on the track this evening!! #GodsTiming
— JeffJulmisOLY (@JeffJulmisOLY) August 16, 2016
And he looked pretty confident in front of the cameras, too, giving it some Bolt-esque bravado.
But things went wrong very quickly when the heat began, and it was hard not to admire Julmis’s spirit.
If this isn't true Olympic spirit, nothing is! #Rio2016 https://t.co/3dB8yiq3mP
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) August 17, 2016
The Olympian finished the race in a time of 25.56 seconds, 13 seconds behind Spain’s Orlando Ortega. And just to rub salt in his already plentiful wounds, he was disqualified for crawling under the second hurdle before he got up. Can nobody give this dude a break?
But Julmis proved again how good a sport he is when he later responded on Twitter to the stick he’d been getting in the aftermath of the race. Clearly not one for self-pity, Julmis decided to see the funny side.
All I can do now is laugh at my pain! Trolls will be trolls 😂😂😂 but I have to admit they getting me good!
— JeffJulmisOLY (@JeffJulmisOLY) August 17, 2016
We like this guy.
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