Sprint over Swimming:Team Work concept from relay races !

In one of the articles from Lean Instiute came across this interesting concept of Team work.
One critical idea was "mutual assistance teamwork" where team members support each other, as a runner waiting for the next stage of the race would react to the runner in the previous stage, who might be struggling, and reach back to provide support and execute a clean handoff. The help the next runner can provide is illustrated below in cartoons prepared by Toshiko Narusawa, co-author with John of Kaizen Express.
This is unlike swimming and other types of relays where the previous contestant must reach a specific point before the next contestant can start moving ahead.
Both is team work but the intensity differs !