Jamaican athlete tracks down volunteer who saved his Olympic dream; read details

Hansle Parchment, a Jamaican track and field athlete, boarded the wrong bus on the day of the men's 110-meter hurdles semi-finals and was taken to the wrong place. Despite arriving at the wrong venue on race day, the sprinter overcame an unfavourable start to win a gold medal on the podium at the Tokyo Summer Olympics. Surprisingly, it was an Olympic volunteer in the Games Village who came as a godsend and steered Parchment to the athletics stadium, where his event was scheduled.

Parchment was listening to music and didn't realise he boarded the wrong bus

In an Instagram video, the hurdler said he was listening to music and didn't realise he'd boarded a wrong bus. Soon later, Tiana, a volunteer for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games, was noticed by the 31-year-old Jamaican hurdler. Parchment frantically sought her assistance, unaware that volunteers were not permitted to do much in such a situation. The Japanese woman, on the other hand, provided the athlete money so that he could get a cab to the stadium before he was disqualified for not being present for the event.

Parchment explained that's how he was able to make it to the warm-up on time and complete everything. He tracked down the volunteer and hailed her for being his Olympic salvation after his wonderful gold medal victory. "If I had done that, I wouldn’t get there in time to even warm up. I had to find another way. I was trying to get one of the branded cars for the Games to take me, but these people are very strict and adhering to the rules, and I would have to book the car from beforehand to get it to leave," he said in a video that was shared on social media.

Parchment gave Tiana a Jamaican Olympic shirt

The gold medalist hurdler later gave her a yellow Jamaican Olympic shirt and returned the money he had borrowed from her.

Parchment won bronze at the 2012 Olympics but was forced to withdraw due to injury in 2016. On his journey to the final, the 31-year-old finished third in the Jamaican trials for Tokyo and did not win either his heat or semifinal. However, he overcame strong competition to win the Olympic championship in a season-best time of 13.04 seconds.

Image: d_treefairy, @parchment_hansle/ Instagram