Silina Pha Aphay, left, of Laos rushes to help Lucia Moris of South Sudan during a heat in the women’s 100 meters at the Olympics on Friday in Saint-Denis, France. Petr David Josek/Associated Press

SAINT-DENIS, France — Sprinters who run the preliminary rounds are not at the Olympics to win medals.

They are there to represent themselves and their country, to tell people years from now they competed in the Olympics, to provide an example to the people back home in their small countries and underfunded sports programs.

The nine athletes in the first preliminary race on the first morning of track and field at the Paris Olympics came from South Sudan, Laos, Turkmenistan, Niger, Palau, Paraguay, Mauritania, San Marino and Congo. Racing in the 100-meter dash, they hoped to finish in the top three and make it into the first round. Maybe they could tell their families years from now that they lined up next to Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce or Sha’Carri Richardson.

Silinia Pha Aphay, the Laotian sprinter, ran in Lane 2. Halfway through the race, she saw the blur to her left crumble. Lucia Moris, the runner in Lane 1 from South Sudan, had fallen.

Pha Aphay crossed in 12.45 seconds, her best time this season but only good enough for sixth place. Her Olympics were over before 11 a.m. As she processed that disappointment, Pha Aphay heard the horrible noise that echoed through Stade de France.

Moris lay on the purple track, screaming and shrieking and holding her right leg. Pha Apahy turned and did something unusual for a sprinter: She ran toward the start line. She pointed and waved at medics to come help.

“We are athletes,” Pha Aphay said. “We are 100 meters – the same. All 100 meters athletes have to know how being hurt feels. And this is a big competition. It’s a big dream to come here. But you get hurt here. So everybody knows the feeling.”

When Pha Aphay arrived, she suspected from experience that Moris had injured her hamstring. Pha Aphay could not help Moris. She told her, “Just cry out.”

“I can only share her pain,” Pha Aphay said.

Pha Aphay stayed with Moris as medics strapped her to a yellow stretcher. She placed her hand on Moris’ shoulder. She placed a pair of orange shoes next to the stretcher. Medics carried Moris away, her body immobilized.

Pha Aphay watched and then jogged to the corner of Stade de France. On the clock, her Olympics had ended after 12.45 seconds. She had represented herself and her country. Even if she could not tell in that moment, when she only wanted one more race, she had run at the Olympics and done what she came to do.