Will over win, how Cambodian runner Bou Samnang ran her own race

Samnang’s never-say-die spirit in the women’s 5,000m at the SEA Games in Phnom Penh has gone viral.

If you are a sport aficionado, chances are that over the last few days you've heard of Kevin de Bruyne's stunning equaliser for Manchester City against Real Madrid at Santiago Bernabeu. Or Suryakumar Yadav's breathtaking assault on the RCB bowlers in Mumbai. Or Carlos Alcaraz's dominance-extending Masters crown in Madrid.

Cambodia's Bou Samnang in action during the women's 5000m final (REUTERS)

Bou Samnang. Rings a bell? Perhaps not. Fair enough, for she is a Cambodian athlete who, on Monday, finished last in the women's 5,000m race of the ongoing Southeast Asian Games in the country’s capital Phnom Penh.

Hers was as much a moment of sporting triumph as any. When Samnang crossed the finish line at 22 minutes and 54.22 seconds, she was soaked from the pounding rain and tears. She had been the only runner on the track for more than a minute. The Vietnamese winner was done almost six minutes earlier. That was when it started to rain, steadily turning into a downpour.

Head down, as she came around the final bend and entered the home stretch, gushing winds made the downpour even more severe. Almost everyone else on the track, including officials, stood under the shelter of giant umbrellas.

The race commentator saluted her “courage to keep running” in conditions that had “become far too difficult”, hailing her determination that helped her hold firm and cross the finish line. And when she did finish, Samnang folded her hands to acknowledge the applause of the sparse Cambodian crowd and broke down. She got hold of a Cambodia flag and raised it, also wiping her tears with it as the umbrella-protected volunteers near the athlete exit area walked up to congratulate her.

The video of her race has since gone viral on social media, picked up around the world. On Wednesday, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen announced an award of $10,000 for Samnang, "to encourage perseverance".

This is sport too, when sheer willpower takes over from skill. When the battle to merely complete takes over what you started with a medal or silverware as target. When that is accomplished, one feels every bit a winner.

History of sport is replete with such tales of human spirit.

Tanzanian John Stephen Akhwari felt that. He fell and hurt his knee to be left limping, but still completed the 1968 Mexico Olympics marathon. In a race where 18 competitors did not finish, the then African champion overcame the mid-race setback by strapping the injury. After a point he simply wasn't able to run, but limped into the Olympic Stadium in 3:25:27, more than an hour after the winner, and long after the spectators had left.

Then there was Briton Derek Redmond and his father Jim. Posting the quickest time in the heat, he was among the 400m contenders at the 1992 Barcelona Games. In the final, however, he tore the hamstring on the back straight. Instead of quitting, he hobbled towards the finish line. His father slipped on to the track by dodging officials and waved them away as he helped his son to cross the finish.

Abbey D’Agostino and Nikki Hamblin, whose seconds of sportsmanship stood out over the scores of medals at the 2016 Rio Olympics, also stand out. With around 1,800m to go in the women's 5,000m heats, Hamblin tripped and fell and inadvertently brought down D’Agostino who was running behind her. American D’Agostino got up but instead of continuing her race stood there to assist the Kiwi runner in getting up. D’Agostino had badly hurt her knee, which slowed her down when they resumed race. It was then Hamblin’s turn to hang back and trudge along with her for a little while until D’Agostino urged her to carry on at her pace.

There are countless others for whom, like Samnang, sport is much more than winning and losing.