Jamaican athlete Hansle Parchment thanks Tokyo Olympics volunteer who paid his taxi money

On the race day of the Men's 110 meters hurdles semi-finals at the Tokyo Olympics 2020, Jamaican athlete Hansle Parchment revealed that he got on the wrong bus that drove him to a different venue than where he needed to be. A gold medal winner in the 2020 Olympic Games, Parchment took to his official Instagram handle and posted a video where he can be seen narrating the events of the day and how he almost missed the global sports competition.

Jamaican athlete Hansle Parchment thanks Olympics volunteer

In the video, Jamaican track and field athlete Hansle Parchment can be seen revealing that he was listening to music and did not realise that he boarded the wrong bus that dropped him at the aquatics center. The 31-year-old gold winner added that in the back of his mind, he knew he needed some local help if he had any chance of making it to the athletics stadium in time. However, he faced disappointment as all the official Tokyo Olympics 2020 cars were pre-booked. 

Parchment then immediately, contacted the Tokyo Olympics 2020 officials who advised him to reach the Olympic Village first and take a new bus that shall take him to the correct race venue. The athlete then spotted Trijana, a Tokyo Sumer Olympic Games 2020 volunteer, and sought her help without knowing that volunteers were not allowed to do so much in such scenarios. The Japanese woman had given him some money to arrange a cab ride to the stadium before he was disqualified on the grounds of not being present for the race. 

Parchment said, "That’s how I was able to get to the warm-up in time and had enough time to complete." He goes on to locate the Japanese woman and thank her for being his Olympic saviour. In the clip, he can be seen expressing his thoughts, "You were instrumental in me getting to the finals that day. That is just because you helped me." Later, the gold medalist Jamaican hurdler gifted her a yellow Jamaican Olympic shirt and paid back the money he had borrowed from the young lady. The short clip ends with a selfie picture where they can be seen posing together with his gold medal in the frame. 

IMAGE: AP