A 13-year-old girl carried her injured twin sister, so they could both finish the last half of the 800-meters race at the Southern Illinois State Track Meet on Saturday, May 10, 2014.
Chloe Gruenke, a 7th-grade student at Wesclin Middle School in Trenton, Illinois, said she fell to the ground after feeling something pull and pop in her thigh in the second lap of the race. She couldn’t go on.
Then her twin sister, Claire, came to the rescue.
Claire put Chloe on her back, and they finished the race together. Claire carried Chloe for the last 370 meters of the race.
“It’s about showing compassion, love and sportsmanship, even if you lose and help somebody it’s still worth it,” Claire told our sister station KTVI. “The energy from the crowd made me stronger.”
The crowd cheered, and their coaches were among the people moved to tears as they watched.
The Gruenke twins finished last in the race, but won the hearts of everyone who watched their special moment.
