Canadian Simon Whitfield dreams of London Olympic gold literally came crashing down this week.

The defending silver medalist in the men’s triathlon, he said his bike hit a “speed bump” early in the cycling stage in Hyde Park. The damage both to the bike and the athlete necessitated his pulling out of the race.

During the crash, his bike made contact with that of Leonardo Chacon of Costa Rica, clipping his front wheel and taking him out of the race briefly. Chacon was No. 18 overall coming out of the water; at the end of the cycling leg, he was No. 33 before finishing 48th overall, out of 54 athletes who finished the race.

The day after the Olympic triathlon, Chacon felt compelled to reach out to Whitfield on Facebook — to express his feelings on the crash, and to let the four-time Olympian know what an inspiration he was to his competitors through the years.

Oh, and to invite him to Costa Rica.

From Facebook (link)

Dear Simon,

I am Leonardo Chacón, the athlete that fell down behind you on the competition on Tuesday.

I just wanted to say that you are an inspiration to millions of triathletes that just like me, dreamed about going to the Olympics.

When I was 15, I remembered watching you win the gold in Sidney. A couple years later, silver in Beijing. Now, at my 27 years of age, these were my first Olympic Games and it was an honor to race next to you.

I also wanted to thank you for being an example of endurance and discipline which have allow you to compete to the highest level in 4 Olympic Games.

I really hope you get well soon from yesterday´s crash.

Hope to see you in Brazil 2016 and this time race you to the end for a place in the podium.

Finally, I wanted to invite you to Costa Rica, I think you would like it. I have been to Canada and it is gorgeous.

End Facebook

As of Friday morning, the post had been “liked” nearly 7,000 times on Facebook.

Via Twitter, Whitfield acknowledged he read the message and felt humbled. Also: “I happened to ‘bump’ into Leandro in the Village. What a class act. We hugged it out.”

Source: SFGate.com