Olympic gold medalist tracks down and thanks volunteer who helped him after getting a bus to the wrong venue

An Olympic gold medalist tracked down and thanked a Tokyo 2020 volunteer who helped him make his race by giving him cab money after he got a bus to the wrong venue.

In a video posted to Instagram, Jamaican hurdler Hansle Parchment said he had got on the wrong bus to the semifinals because he had been listening to music and didn’t realise he’d ended up at an aquatics venue instead of the Olympic Stadium, as you do.

“They were telling me that I have to come back to the village and then take another bus back to the stadium. If I had done that, I wouldn’t get there in time to even warm up,” he said.

“I was trying to get one of the branded cars for the Games to take me, but these people are very strict and adhering to the rules, and I would have to book the car from beforehand to get it to leave.”

Then he spotted a volunteer and begged her to help.

“She actually gave me some money to take one of the taxis affiliated with the whole Games, and so I was able to get to the warm-up track at the stadium with enough time to warm up to compete,” he said.

In the video, Parchment took a bus to find the woman, named Trijana. He repaid her, showed her his gold medal and gave her a Team Jamaica shirt.

“You were instrumental in me getting to the finals that day,” he said

Meanwhile, according to Jamaican news outlet The Sunday Gleaner, Jamaica’s tourism minister has invited Trijana to the country to thank her for helping Parchment.

“It is selfless what she did; one would not know what the outcome would have been,” Jamaican Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett told the outlet.

Reacting to her reward, Trijana posted a photo of herself in her new kit and said she was “full of gratitude”.

Parchment replied that he was happy it fit.

Parchment won bronze at the London 2012 Olympics but missed the Rio Olympics in 2016 due to an injury.

He won gold in the 110-metre men’s hurdle finals last Thursday but he simply would not have if he had missed the semi-finals.

All’s well that ends well.