It is the stuff of nightmares. According to The Wall Street Journal, US middle distance runner Emma Coburn was ready to compete in the Olympic final of the women’s steeplechase on Monday (Aug. 16)—the race she’s been preparing her entire career for—when she came to a horrific realization: She didn’t have a hair tie.
Coburn kept her cool, and did what any woman who finds herself in a similar situation would do: She asked if anyone had a hair tie.
The Wall Street Journal reports: ”At the warm-up track near the Olympic stadium, she walked around asking if anyone had a spare.”
Someone did have a spare: Coburn’s teammate Evan Jager, who the Wall Street Journal notes was an early adopter of the Olympic man bun.
Jager’s heroism was commended by Coburn on Twitter, where she exuded the gratitude familiar to anyone who has ever really needed a hair tie and been provided with one. She went on to run the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase in 9:07:63, winning a bronze medal for the US. Then she gave Jager back his hair tie.