tokyo 2020 olympics

High jump friends decide on double gold over jump-off

24 Comments
By PAT GRAHAM

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There were other moments of great sportsmanship as well, including when 800 meters runner Isaiah Jewett was tripped from behind by Nijel Amos and fell in his semifinal heat. Instead of being angry, Isaiah reached out to assist Nijel up and they both crossed the finish line. Isaiah by the way was reinstated and was allowed into the finals.

As much as many members of the JT community so desperately wanted these games to fail just to spite Japan, in fact the games have provided memorable moments highlighting the goodwill and sportsmanship of humanity, and thus have not been the failure they so desperately crave.

2 ( +17 / -15 )

 The Italian high jumper leaped into his rival's arms,...

That's not even counting all the hugs and kisses he delivered — or all of the people he jumped into the arms of.

Not so much as greet him as celebrate by jumping into the sprinter’s arms and curling his own arm around Jacobs’ bald head.

And yet, these guys needed to place the medals around their own heads so as to remain socially distant under the Covid protocols.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

And yet, these guys needed to place the medals around their own heads so as to remain socially distant under the Covid protocols.

Yeah, 100%, I've been watching so many athletes yelling, hugging, and throwing sweat into each other's mouths, that I've been wondering what's the point of not just hanging the medals around the athletes' necks.

Why cut this traditional Olympic corner? The presenter and the athletes are all wearing masks on the podium anyway and they don't even need to talk to each other.

9 ( +11 / -2 )

From Yahoo Sports:

It's the first co-champions in an athletics competition since American Jim Thorpe and Norway's Ferdinand Bie won in men's pentathlon in 1912. Thorpe won the competition, but was later stripped of it for having played minor league baseball. The IOC later declared him a co-champion in 1982. 

“Qatar's Mutaz Essa Barshim, Italy's Gianmarco Tamberi decide to share gold in men's high jump,” Yahoo Sports, 1 August 2021

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Yeah, 100%, I've been watching so many athletes yelling, hugging, and throwing sweat into each other's mouths, that I've been wondering what's the point of not just hanging the medals around the athletes' necks.

Why cut this traditional Olympic corner? The presenter and the athletes are all wearing masks on the podium anyway and they don't even need to talk to each other.

It's all form and no content.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

If the high jumpers can share a medal, the golfers should be allowed to do so as well, instead of playing off for one medal.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Wow, that was an absolutely epic High Jump comp, I watched the whole thing and it was riveting, despite having multiple events streaming this one got all my viewing attention.

The ending was just perfect, they both earned that gold, it was a dead heat, they had been going for several hours, were tired, and not performing to their best anymore and a jump-off would have detracted from the whole event, the Men's 100m was about to start.

Barshim with his cool as a cucumber sunglasses-wearing act, Barshim pulling out his leg cast, Starc the Australian with his mustache - and "roommate" in the crowd. Woo the Korean ecstatically smashing his PB, Kerr the cool chewing gum kiwi, The stoic Belorussian, the frustrated Russian. The highest clearances of any comp in Olympic history, even Mark Watson the commentator couldn't ruin the evening.

The Olympic spirit was spiriting last night ! Story of the games.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

@davinda, spoilsport.

No offense, but I've played pretty high-level sport and I'm nearer to dying than you are. I hope. At least for your sake. No offence meant to Japan's great sake distilleries. Just wish they'd stop calling them 'factories'.

It's a beautiful day, eh?

0 ( +3 / -3 )

It was a beautiful moment.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

The bronze winner should have been jumping for joy himself.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

This should be a double silver. It doesn’t seem right that the athletes can just decide to not complete the event so that they both get gold.

-6 ( +3 / -9 )

I didn't see it, but it's a step up on the test event for the women's triathlon a couple of years ago. In that, the British girls crossed the line together and were promply disqualified for "engineering the result" or some other jobsworth blazer-enforced rule.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

@davinda, spoilsport.

No offense, but I've played pretty high-level sport and I'm nearer to dying than you are. I hope. At least for your sake. No offence meant to Japan's great sake distilleries. Just wish they'd stop calling them 'factories'.

It's a beautiful day, eh?

Could whoever upvoted this please decipher it for me?

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

I bet the English would have loved that option at Euro 2020.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Tie…….what is this? Soccer?

Find out who really is the best!!!

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

Anybody who tuned in after the gold(s) were decided would have thought the Italian had just lost his family to a plane crash.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

I bet the Qatari would have changed his tune had he been offered the chance to share silver with the Italian!!!

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

I was switching between streams and got back to the high jump one right in time to see the Italian roll on the floor crying, which was very confusing at first.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Congratulations for the both of them!

3 ( +6 / -3 )

Cool moment.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Feel good story but dangerous precedent. If all sports events are negotiated like this, then eventually lawyers and negotiators will get involved, followed by lawsuits amongst sponsors and stakeholders, not to mention Vegas odds makers.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Um, dangerous precedent? Do you know how rare and unusual this is? It has never happened before and may well never happen again.

This is an anomaly, no one is talking about all sports events, we are talking Olympics, the Olympic High Jump. Stop extrapolating this and making irrelevant hypotheticals.

And Vegas? Psssh. Those vultures are the last people in the world who should get a say.

This was pure sportsmanship, and the perfect ending on the day. Sport won, the Olympic spirit won, and humanity won.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Honorable. Selfless. The true Olympic Spirit. Congratulations to Gold medalist Mutaz Barshim of Qatar and Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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