Two Friends Decided To Share Olympic Gold In Tokyo

People all over the world are cheering for these two athletes who decided to share their gold medal

Mutaz Essa Barshim is an athlete from Qatar who has won the gold medal multiple times since 2010. In 2018 he suffered from a severe ankle injury and had to step back for the rest of the season. After this, he was very determined to come back and ensure his victory.

Mutaz Essa Barshim and Gianmarco Tamberi became the first joint 1st-place winners since 1912

Gianmarco Tamberi, who is an Italian high jumper, also had a very similar path to Barshim’s. In 2016, he became the World Indoor champion. The same year, the Olympics were held, but he couldn’t participate due to his injury. A fun fact about Tamberi is that he used to show up to some major competitions with only half his beard shaved, leaving people to question what was the purpose of this.

During the Olympics, both athletes succeeded at jumping 2.37 meters. After this, they tried to jump 2.39 meters, but all three tries were unsuccessful. Since their score was the same, they could’ve settled this over a jump-off. The athletes went to discuss the situation with officials and it didn’t take long for them to decide to become joint winners. This is the first time since the 1912 Olympics that athletes have shared a gold medal.

People in the comments were fascinated by their instant decision to share the gold medal