On Friday, it was announced by World Athletics that pole vaulters Katie Nageotte and Holly Bradshaw were named the winners of the International Fair Play Committee’s Fair Play Award in conjunction with the 2022 World Athletics Awards.
Bradshaw suffered an unfortunate injury while warming up at the World Championships in Oregon this past summer when her pole snapped while vaulting. Nageotte then went over to offer Bradshaw comfort and support, not just on the track, but on social media as well.
“The reason I wanted to address those negative comments online is first of all, Holly is the toughest athlete I’ve possibly ever met,” Nageotte said in the press release. “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 praised Nageotte for speaking out and said that what’s said at home and online does cause damage.
Nageotte mentioned to World Athletics that the award meant a great deal to her because she wanted others to see that you can still be a good human being in addition to being a competitor.
“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,” Nageotte said in the press release. It’s more important for me to be remembered as a decent human being than a good athlete and if I can have both of those, then that’s great.
“I am happy that I could be a part of this, to show people that you can be a good person and that kindness is what we need more of going forward in this world. If I could show a little bit of that I’m really happy, and to share it with Holly is pretty awesome.”
