The Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games is a time for celebration, for pride in one’s country, and for losing yourself in the moment.
Italian high jumper Gianmarco Tamberi lost something else at Friday’s Opening Ceremony in Paris: his wedding ring.
Tamberi wrote on his Instagram account Saturday that he lost the ring while holding the Italian flag during the national procession down the Seine River. That’s not all he wrote, though:
Loosely translated, the epic apology to Chiara Bontempi Tamberi begins: “I’m sorry my love, I’m so sorry. Too much water, too much kilograms lost in the past few months, or maybe the irrepressible enthusiasm of what we were doing. Probably all three things.”
“If it had to happen, if I had to lose this ring, I couldn’t imagine a better place,” he continued, noting the ring will “remain forever in the riverbed of the city of love”.
Tamberi also suggested they throw his wife’s ring in the river too, “so they will be together forever and we will have one more excuse to renew our vows and marry again like you’ve always asked.”
“Only you could turn this into something romantic,” Chiara wrote under her husband’s apology.
It was one of nearly 4,000 comments on the post as of this writing.
The couple has been married since Sept. 2022.
Tamberi, 32, is the defending gold medalist in the Olympic men’s high jump. He and Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar shared the gold at the Tokyo Games in July 2021. Both jumpers were perfect on the day until the bar was set to 7 feet, 10 inches — an Olympic record.
When Tamberi and Barshim both failed to clear the height on three attempts, they agreed to the tie rather than compete in a jump-off to decide who would take the silver medal. Maksim Negasekau of Belarus claimed the bronze.
At the Paris 2024 Olympics, the men’s high jump event is scheduled for Aug. 7 and 10 at the Stade de France.
Tamberi is the favorite for the gold medal again. He has the highest recorded mark of any high jumper this year, having cleared 2.37m (7 feet, 9.3 inches) on June 11 in Rome.
Former LSU standout JuVaughn Harrison and U.S. Olympic trials winner Shelby McEwen have the best chance of any Americans on the men’s field.
Perhaps Tamberi will enter the field of competition this year with a little added motivation: to make amends for his loss at the Opening Ceremony.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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