World Athletics Fair Play Award
My initial thinking on hearing of the award of the World Athletics Fair Play Award to Katie Nageotte and Holly Bradshaw was that it could not have gone to two nicer people. The World Athletics statement said: “In Oregon, Bradshaw injured herself after her pole snapped during the pole vault warm-up session. Her fellow competitor Nageotte immediately went over to support her. Knowing she would no longer be able to contend for a place in the final, Bradshaw withdrew from the competition, thus allowing another athlete to advance. Bradshaw received a lot of abuse on social media for withdrawing, but Nageotte again offered support by taking to Twitter in defense of her competitor”.
Such an honour to win this alongside one of my closest friends @ktnago13 ❤️
Hopefully our genuine relationship shows being nice and being competitive is totally achievable 🤩
Thank you @WorldAthletics pic.twitter.com/m3CvhZ4D2u
— Holly Bradshaw (@HollyBradshawPV) December 2, 2022
The award is based on fan votes for the moment that best exemplified fair play during the World Athletics Championships Oregon22. Katie Nageotte explained: “I wanted to address those negative comments online because, first of all, Holly is the toughest athlete I’ve ever met. For her to pull out of a competition, especially a World Championships, no one would ever just do that.
“It’s also ignorance around our sport. It’s kind of insulting to the sport as a whole when people say: ‘oh, she only fell 2ft; she’s really milking it. When you break a pole, it would be like taking a metal baseball bat and hitting it against a metal pole as hard as you can. I’ve seen so many injuries from it, so if nothing else, I want to teach people about the sport”.
Bradshaw added: “No one should be expected to understand [everything about the pole vault], but it’s just realizing that what you are saying at home and posting online really affects a person. Putting it online and in the domain does so much damage. It is very important for Katie to stand up and speak out about it.”
On the significance of this recognition, Nageotte added: “This award is so important for the next generation because I have always wanted to show that you can be a fierce competitor and phenomenal at what you do and still be a good person. It’s more important for me to be remembered as a decent human being than a…
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