Qatar’s Mutaz Barshim and Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi share gold in the men’s high jump
Qatar’s Mutaz Barshim and Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi share the top step of the podium in the men’s high jump at the Tokyo Olympic Stadium after both scaled 2.37m.
Athletics
In a dramatic end to the Olympic high jump final, Qatar’s Mutaz Barshim and Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi will share the gold medal, after each jumped 2.37m.
Three athletes scaled 2.37m setting up an intense battle for the coveted Olympic gold medal with Barshim, Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy, and Belarusian Maksim Nedasekau, all clearing the height.
With no athlete able to beat a height of 2.39m, the gold was shared between Barshim and Tamberi, with Nedasekau taking the bronze on countback.
Tamberi became the second Italian to win gold in the high jump at the Olympic Games, after Sara Simeoni won the women's competition in Moscow 1980.
"After my injuries I just wanted to come back, but now I have this gold, it's incredible. I dreamed of this so many times," Tamberi said.
"I was told in 2016 just before Rio there was a risk I wouldn't be able to compete any more. It's been a long journey."
In one of the closest contested and high-quality finals, jumpers produced career and season’s best performances. Nedasekau’s effort was a national record, while his bronze was his country’s first Olympic medal in the high jump. The Republic of Korea’s WOO Sanghyeok came painstakingly close to a medal for his country, leaping to a new national record of 2.35m.