Posted on 08/01/2021 3:59:16 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Olympic high jumpers — and best friends — Mutaz Essa Barshim and Gianmarco Tamberi convinced Games officials to let them share gold on Sunday instead of jumping to decide the winner.
Both Barshim, 30, and Tamberi, 29, had cleared jumps of 2.37 meters, then failed to clear the 2.39 meter hurdle three times each. But Barshim resisted when an Olympic officials offered him to “jump-off” against his Italian competitor.
“Can we have two golds?” the Qatari asked the official — who nodded approvingly, causing the self-described “best friends” to clasp hands and whoop for joy.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
This is not exactly a first. As I recall there were three cross-country skiers in 1980 Lake Placid that finished within 0.03 or 0.04 seconds was it?
Now they stagger the starts so a skier doesn’t know how close he is to the leader. However the IOC was prompted to time the event to the nearest 0.1 second in the future - not sure if it’s still that way.
Now rowing a few years ago - 2016 or 2012 maybe, both boats had the exact same time (to the nearest 0.01 second). The photo finish showed one boat slightly ahead. I don’t think it was even the medal heat.
They both earned gold. In Track and field events, if there's a tie for first, they skip silver and give the next person bronze.
The hugging and bromance bit is a little overdone, but really this is the correct call. Jumpers know how many good jumps they have in them for each competition. Over a certain amount (about five to seven) and fatigue will set in and the jumpers will be physically incapable of jumping well. At that point, it's no longer a measure of jumping skill. A "jump off" wouldn't end up with a better result, and would very likely end up with second and third and etc.. jump offs as each jumper tried to guess how much less fatigued he is than the other guy and then both miss. Dual gold is a much better choice.
Glad I am not watching this Olympics.
Yes, two silvers seems a reasonable accommodation for their request.
exactly. my neighbor has a bumpersticker, “Every kid is a winner in Arlington soccer”
I guess they don’t keep score? wtf.
Pistols at 10 paces.
Solomon would say “Cut the medal in half and give each a half.”
‘I guess they don’t keep score? wtf.’
why bother keeping score in soccer...?
These days, when everyone and their dog seems to be ready to criticize or malign others, I liked seeing what I perceived to be an act of good will.
Don’t forget to inscribe BBF on the medal halves. /s
IIRC, there is a rule that the SB can’t end in a tie. They play until it is over. Haven’t watch it for years, so I may be wrong. If it is the case, at least they haven’t pussified it that much.
WTH?
Did everyone else get a participation medal, too?
Sheesh
American Xander Shauffele won the gold! Congratulations to a patriotic American.
I cannot believe the level of cynicism in these comments. They both did their best and neither could beat the other. They agreed to share the top shelf. I can’t see that as anything but the Utmost good sportsmanship.
If the third place finishers (7 of them) in the Olympic golf tournament, that ended in the wee hours of the morning today NY time (evening hours in Japan) had asked to share the bronze prize, there would have been 7 bronze medalists in golf, instead of the single bronze award that went to CT Pan (Taiwan) (after a play off among the 7).
The gold went to Xander Schauffele and the silver went to Rory Sabbatini. Rory is from Italy but was playing for Slovenia this time (his wife’s homeland and where Rory has taken a 2nd citizenship as well). Rory said he was playing for Slovenia because he is trying to boost the popularity of golf in Slovenia. Winning silver in golf for Slovenia at the Olympics may help Rory do that.
Sorry for the golf interruption on this high jump thread, though it is another Olympic story too.
Olympics is dead
.....Mutaz Essa Barshim and Gianmarco Tamberi convinced Games officials to let them share gold....
“Can we have two golds?” the Qatari asked the official....
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Astonishing that there wasn’t a codified tie-breaking mechanism in place... and this sounds like it was the idea of the two jumpers. In what other sport have you ever seen the competitors approach the officials with such a suggestion as this?
“ The correct solution would have been to let them share silver.”
You are correct.
I think the top horse won by a booger…
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