Presenting the top contender for “feel-good moment” from this year’s Olympics in Tokyo: in the Men’s High Jump event, Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim and Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi tied for first and faced a tiebreaking jump-off. Instead, Barshim proposed to officials that they simply share the gold.
Barshim and Tamberi have been friends as well as competitors for 11 years, after meeting at the world junior championships in Moncton, New Brunswick, in 2010. They enjoy biweekly phone chats and frequent visits; Tamberi was even a guest at Barshim’s wedding, and Barshim plans to attend Tamberi’s upcoming nuptials as well.
Barshim grieved with his friend when Tamberi tore a ligament while training for the 2016 games in Rio, and had to sit on the sidelines cheering Barshim on; then when Barshim suffered a similar injury in 2018, Tamberi was able to offer counsel. Both recovered enough from their injuries to qualify for this year’s Olympics; Tamberi saved his cast from 2016 and brought it to Tokyo as a talisman.
The friends sailed through the Mens’ High Jump competition in Tokyo, easily taking the lead and clearing a 2.37 meter jump. But when the bar was raised to 2.39 meters, first Barshim failed – and then so did Tamberi. Officials brought them into a huddle, rulebook in hand, to discuss the pair having a jumpoff to determine the winner. But before the officials could explain the rules, Barshim just asked, “Can we have two golds?”
Officials confirmed that yes, they could, if both Barshim and Tamberi agreed to forgo the jumpoff. Barshim just turned to Tamberi with a grin. “It’s history, my friend,” he said – just before the delighted Tamberi jumped into his arms with a victory whoop.
Barshim was correct that theirs was an historic move – the last time there was a “shared” Olympic gold metal was in 1912. However, the circumstances weren’t quite as rosy; Jim Thorpe won the gold in the pentathlon and the decathlon events, but Olympic officials decided later that he had run afoul of Olympics’ “amateur athlete” status by accepting pay for a brief stint in baseball. Thorpe was stripped of his medals at the time, with the gold medals being rewarded to the silver medal winners. However, Thorpe was later pardoned by the IOC and his gold medals re-instated.
So this would be the first time that a gold medal was intentionally shared. And in a final and fitting touch to things, during the awards ceremony, Barshim and Tamberi did the honors of presenting each one’s gold medal to the other.