Olympic high jumpers asked if they could just split the gold medal

The men’s high jump final at Tokyo 2020 was a dead heat.

All three medalists cleared the bar at 2.37 meters, but Maksim Nedasekau of Belarus was handed bronze due to previous missed attempts.

The two remaining athletes — Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim and Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi — had yet to miss an attempt.

When the bar was raised to 2.39 meters, a mark that would have tied the Olympic record, neither man could clear it. The high jump was stuck at a stalemate.

After their misses, an Olympic official came over to Barshim and Tamberi, saying that they could go to a jump-off to determine who took home the gold medal.

“Can we have two golds?” Barshim asked.

“It’s possible,” the official replied.

By the time the words were halfway out of the official’s mouth, Barshim and Tamberi had already looked at each other, given a nod, and leaped into each other’s arms.

Read the article at Insider here: https://www.insider.com/video-mutaz-barshim-gianmarco-tamberi-split-gold-medal-high-jump-2021-8?fbclid=IwAR3uKZwNVPpjUiDPaFod-nA6UQvxOSc0iPmZx8xk7JBcm7fy8QZucYXGL_Y