What a moment in the history of High jump. The two Olympians, Qatar’s Barshim and Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi have agreed to share the gold medal in the High jump instead of Taking it to a jump off.
Barshim – giving Qatar its first Olympic track and field title – and Tamberi recorded a best clearance of 2.37 metres on Sunday.
When Mutaz Essa Barshim and Gianmarco Tamberi finished the men’s high jump competition tied, they could have gone to a jump-off to decide the winner.
Instead, they decided to share the gold, and their reaction is what we love about sports.
Both Barshim, 30, and the 29-year-old Tamberi did not have a failed attempt until they attempted to clear the 2.39-metre mark.
After three failures each at 2.39, they ended up tied and entered a conversation with an Olympic official, who first offered them a “jump-off” to decide the matter.
“Can we have two golds,” Barshim asked him.
The official nodded, and the two athletes clasped hands and whooped for joy.
For Barshim it completes a full house of Olympic medals having taken bronze in London in 2012 and silver in Rio five years ago.
Barshim missed a large part of 2018 with a serious ankle injury. “This is a dream I don’t want to wake up from,” he said. “I have been through a lot. It’s been five years that I have been waiting, with injuries and a lot of setbacks. “But we are here today sharing this moment and all the sacrifices. It’s really worth it now in this moment.” “For me, coming here, I know for a fact that for the performance I did, I deserve that gold,” Barshim said. “He did the same thing, so I know he deserved that gold.”
Barshim said afterward: “He is one of my best friends, not only on the track, but outside the track,” Barshim said. “We work together. This is a dream come true. It is the true spirit, the sportsman spirit, and we are here delivering this message.”
“I still can’t believe it happened,” Tamberi said. “Sharing with a friend is even more beautiful. was just magical.”
Tamberi added Olympic gold to a world indoor and a European title, both in 2016, and celebrated exuberantly despite the absence of spectators at the pandemic-affected games.
The long-haired jumper collapsed to the ground and rolled around in great happiness.
Funny, they actually talked about this sort of situation before. Not in great detail, though.
“We just said, ‘Imagine,'” Barshim recalled. “Today, it happened.”
This is indeed what Olympics is all about!