Commonwealth Games Delhi 2010: Canadian Coach Carla Nicholls Applauded For Saving Life
New Delhi – Carla Nicholls, the Canadian coach for athletics has been applauded for not only helping her team to attain a remarkable medal count on the field and track, but also for saving the life of a Nigerian athlete.
Nicholls played crucial role in saving the life of Chinelo Onyali, the long jumper representing Nigeria at Delhi Commonwealth Games, who had suffered seizure and fell at Jawaharlal Nehru stadium Delhi.
It was rather fortunate of Chinelo as when she fell; Nicholls and a television cameraman present on the spot revived her before she was put on the stretcher and sent to the hospital. Though the details of the diagnosis of Chinelo Onyali are not publicly
known, she was discharged from the hospital without requiring extended stay over there.
When Nicholls was approached by the media personnel to share her views, she said that it was good day for her as she not only coached two medals; she also succeeded in saving a life. She regarded the day as “another great evening at Delhi” before leaving
for Canada.
With Nicholls saving the life of young athlete, the day brought some more commendable moments for Canadian side, as Alice Falaiye made it to the gold medal in women’s long jump. Moreover, Tabia Charles also added a bronze to the tally of her home side. With
Falaiye and Charles grabbing two medals, Canada stood having altogether 16 medals in athletics. Previously the tally was 13 at Melbourne, Australia in 2006.
However, regardless of the unprecedented performance of the Canadian athletes, for Nicholls the best moment landed when she saved the life of the young Nigerian athlete. Telling the details of the day Nicholls said that she was standing on the track and
was busy in coaching when she felt a tap on her shoulder. When she turned around, she told, there was a young girl standing and crying there. It was Onyali.
Onyali introduced herself to Nicholls and gave her a big hug to thank her for saving Onyali’s life. Nicholls told that the coach of the Nigerian team also came there to thank her, and for her, it was rather cool.
Nicholls has been playing three roles in athletics Canada. She coaches and provides trainings to the athletes that participate into combined events, besides that, she trains the athletes in jumps and hurdles and she is also the national talent development
coach and the leader for women in coaching field. Nicholls, after spending eight years as head track and field coach at university of Regina Cougars joined athletics Canada as a full time coach in 2009. Before that, she used to work as operating room nurse
at a general hospital in Regina. It was perhaps her experience of being in medical field for eleven long years that helped her save a life in Jawaharlal Nehru stadium on Sunday.
Commenting upon the incident Nicholls said that she had been many times into that kind of situation when she worked at the hospital. She said that though it was a bit awkward for giving someone initial medical treatment in front of 50,000 people, but she
did that rather comfortably. She sad that for her it was like a snapshot of the role she had played for eleven consecutive years. She said that after helping Onyali with initial treatment, she instantly had to revert back to the ground with her coaching role
since three jumps of her athletes were still left and she wanted to bag as much gold as she could for her team.
Nicholls told the media personnel that she was alerted towards Onyali by a cameraman who, watching Onyali falling had instantly started calling for help. Oynali, the Nigerian athlete, she told, had suffered seizure and was unable to breath. Nicholls eventually
succeeded in helping her by holding her jaws open with her both hands. The cameraman provided her artificial respiration which was required three times before Onyli began breathing on her own again.
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