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Shot putter runs 100m hurdles to save team from disqualification

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European Games - Athletics - Silesian Stadium, Chorzow, Poland - June 24, 2023 Belgium's Jolien Maliga Boumkwo in action during the Women's 100m Hurdles, Division 1 Heat B REUTERS/Aleksandra Szmigiel/File Photo

Belgium shot put and hammer throw champion Jolien Boumkwo displayed great team spirit at the European Championships in Poland when she stepped up outside her event and ran a 100 metres hurdles race to save her team from getting disqualified.

Boumkwo appeared all smiles when she carefully attempted each hurdle on Saturday in a video that went viral, after she stepped in when Belgium’s two hurdlers had to pull out due to injury.

Had no Belgian athlete competed in the event, the team would have been disqualified.

The 29-year-old finished the race without knocking any of the hurdles down in 32.81 seconds, 19 seconds after Spanish sprinter Teresa Errandonea who won with 13.22.

Boumkwo was applauded by the audience and congratulated by her rivals as she earned two points for the team.

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The points could be crucial as the bottom three countries will be relegated from Division 1

-Reuters

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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