The British newspaper, the Telegraph, recently published a feature story about Icon's Shawn Crawford, and his remarkable post-Olympics display of sportsmanship: a story that has largely gone unreported in the days since Beijing.

Crawford received the silver medal in the 200 meters due to the disqualification of two runners who finished ahead of him but stepped on the lane lines -- Churandy Marina of Curacao, and Wallace Spearmon of the United States.

Winning in that fashion, however, did not sit well with Shawn, as the Telegraph explained:

To one man, in particular, it all felt wrong. Crawford had been the defending 200m champion, yet he had been well beaten in fourth.

Looking at the video later, he could see that Martina had stepped once, maybe twice, on the line. "But after all the time it had taken to disqualify him, after all the joy he'd had, I felt like a charity case to end up with the silver," he said.

"Even if he hadn't stepped on the line, I knew in my heart he'd have finished way ahead of me. He'd trained for four years and to have a dream like his taken away from him like that was a big heartbreaker for him. I felt he really deserved it."

The note left by Shawn for Churandy Marina (photo courtesy Brian Kanof).

Not long after receiving the medal, Crawford began to consider giving it to the man he felt deserved it.

"So when I stood there on the podium next to Bolt, I thought about it. I went back to my room in the village and decided to give it to Churandy. Quietly. No big deal. I didn't look at it as being something heroic; it was just something I felt I wanted to do."

So before a meet just over a week later, Shawn left the medal for Marina. Again, from the Telegraph:

When Churandy Martina received a call from reception in his hotel room in Zurich's Crowne Plaza on Aug 28 last year saying that someone had left a package for him, he was too underwhelmed even to be bothered to pick it up straight away.

When he looked inside, though, he understood. The bag contained a red case, with a note attached. It read simply: "Churandy I know this can't replace the moment, but I want you to have this because I believe it's rightfully yours!" – Shawn Crawford.

Martina was touched and dumbfounded.

RELATED STORIES
The medal neither Churandy Martin nor Shawn Crawford wants (The Telegraph, May 15, 2009)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/olympics/5330960/The-Olympi...

• Add new comment
• Printer-friendly version
• Send to friend