American track & field athlete Isaiah Jewett and his Botswanan counterpart Nijel Amos had around half a lap to go in the 800m semifinals when Jewett tripped.

With the two athletes sprawled on the track and no hope of ever clawing their way back to the front of the pack, one could only imagine the disappointment.

Helping each other up after the fall

The U.S. athlete's heel appeared to have been hit. Blood could be seen running down Jewett's leg, and he had, unfortunately, hit his head against the track, Washington Post reported.

During his fall, Jewett also took fellow Botswanan athlete down with him. Both of them then helped each other up, put their arms around each other and "trotted slowly" down the track, to the applause of the audience.

AP reported that Jewett also apologised to his counterpart.

They finished the race with together with a timing of 2:38:12, nearly a minute behind the winner, Ferguson Rotich from Kenya, who had finished with a time of 1:44:04.

"Life happens"

Later that evening, Amos was reinstated into the final on appeal and will get another shot at the event. Jewett, however, remained out.

Jewett subsequently posted about the incident on Instagram, saying that "life happens", and that he "did the best (he) could". He also said that he will "keep moving forward".

Amos also took to Instagram to share a photo of a message he had written on the message board at the dressing room:

"Kings fall but don't stay down. See me next dinner."

Amos won a silver medal at London in 2012, and was touted to be one of the "medal favourites".

The 800m final will be taking place on Tuesday evening (Aug. 3).

Top photo via ijlightspeed/IG.