A Facebook message from Costa Rica's Leonardo Chacon shows the athlete harbours no hard feelings towards Canada's Simon Whitfield, even though he caused Chacon to crash during the Olympic men's triathlon on Tuesday.
Chacon posted the message meant for Whitfield on Wednesday, expressing his admiration for the triathlon champion and Canada's flag-bearer for the Olympic opening ceremonies.
"I just wanted to say that you are an inspiration to millions of triathletes that just like me, dreamed about going to the Olympics," he wrote.
Whitfield slipped on a speed bump during the cycling phase, causing him to fall and take Chacon down with him. (See the crash here.)
Chacon came in 48th place out of 54 finishers, Yahoo reported. Whitfield dropped out, and revealed he broke his collarbone and needed stitches in his toe.
It was a crushing blow to the Canadian Olympic champ, who won silver in Beijing in 2004 and gold at the Sydney Games in 2000.
While Chacon was sympathetic after the accident, Whitfield apparently received some less-than-kind opinions on the crash.
"You ruined our fellow citizen Leonardo Chacon, Olympic participation....he was wounded and beaten by your mistake........You don't deserve any congrats," a post read on Whitfield's profile page.
Chacon seemed to disagree, offering Whitfield best wishes for a speedy recovery and an invitation to Costa Rica.
As Whitfield would say, "What a class act."
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