Heartbreaking moment runner sacrifices gold to carry his own brother across finish line
Niamh Shackleton
Featured Image Credit: YouTube/World Triathlon
I think we can all agree that a little bit of sibling rivalry isn't uncommon, but this guy put everything aside to come to his brother's aid.
Both Jonny and Alistair Brownlee, then aged 28 and 26 retrospectively, took part in the 2016 Triathlon World Series in Mexico, and were doing extremely well.
Jonny was just 700m away from winning first place when tragedy struck.
The humid conditions in Cozumel began to get to him, and footage showed Jonny looking like he was about to pass out.
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But Alistair wasn't far behind him and, just as Jonny was about to be carted off the track, he came to help him.
Alistair hooked his brother's arm over his neck and shoulders and practically carried him the final last hundred meters.
During this time, South African Henri Schoeman overtook the pair and took first place.
But rather than going for second, Alistair let his brother quite literally drop across the finish line to take silver, while he came in third.
Speaking after the dramatic yet heartwarming moment, Alistair said it was 'a natural human reaction' to go and help Jonny.
"I wish the flippin' idiot had paced it right and crossed the finish line first," he further quipped in a post-triathlon interview with BBC Sport.
"He could have jogged that last two kilometres and won the race. You have to race the conditions. I was comfortable in third. I raced the conditions, I took the water on, made myself cool and I was all right."
While Jonny looked very much worse for ware as he collapsed over the finish line, he later took to social media to assure people that he was ok.
Sharing a snap of him in a hospital bed, Jonny wrote on Twitter (now X) at the time: "Not how I wanted to end the season, but gave it everything. Thanks @AliBrownleetri, your loyalty is incredible."
The finish line moment went on to be viewed by millions worldwide, with people being moved by the sweet display of brotherhood.
But the following year, World Triathlon introduced a new rule that prohibited people from assisting someone else across the finish line, according to Triathalete.com.
The rules now state that 'an athlete cannot physically assist the forward progress of another athlete on any part of the course' as it will result in 'both athletes being disqualified' - meaning a moment like the one between Jonny and Alistair can never happen again.