A Olympic gold medallist, a new 110 Hurdles Champion, who almost missed the final, because he took the wrong bus in Tokyo, tracks down a woman who paid for his taxi! Yes, this is the story of Hansle Parchment

Hansle Parchment thought he was heading to the Olympic Stadium to take part in the final of the athletics event, but boarded the wrong coach and ended up at one of the aquatics venues in the Japanese capital.

The Jamaican hurdler was worried he would miss the final as he couldn't get one of the official Tokyo 2020 cars to take him to the correct venue, and there wasn't enough time to take a bus back to the Olympic village to get another to the stadium.

In a video posted on social media, he said: " If I had done that, I wouldn’t get there in time to even warm up. I had to find another way. "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 have to book the car from beforehand to get it to leave."

Luckily, the 31-year-old happened across a volunteer named Trijana, who gave him some money to take a taxi to the stadium.

He said: "I saw this volunteer and I had to beg, ‘cause of course she is not allowed to do much, and she actually gave me some money to take one of the taxis. And that’s how I was able to get to the warm-up in time, and had enough time to compete."

Despite his disrupted journey to the venue, and the fact he won neither his heat nor the semi-final, Parchment took the Olympic title with a season-best time of 13.04 seconds.

After his success on the track, he successfully searched for the volunteer who helped him get there to thank her, show her his medal, give her a Jamaica shirt and pay her back the money he borrowed.

Lessons Learnt:

1. Be mindful of your whereabouts, focus on the Goal and minimize distractions

2. Be grateful to those who helped you succeed and show them how sincerely you appreciate their support

3. Even though you are a Volunteer, take your job very seriously and go the extra mile to support people in need. 

More in our next episode, until then, stay connected, stay safe!