Gianmarco Tamberi faces only one jump to defeat bad luck. This must be, in Gianmarco Tamberi’s nights, the constant thought. Tomorrow at 10:05 on the track of Parco dei Principi, the qualifications for the high jump final begin, and the Olympic champion from Tokyo is challenging himself more than his opponents, after the kidney stone that knocked him down. “Come down to the track with me,” the appeal launched by Gimbo for what he defines as “the most difficult race of my life.” The qualifying height is 2.29, and it is likely that the reigning Olympic gold medalist will attempt the feat: clearing the bar immediately and returning to the village to rest and recover. Italy, and not only the athletics, remains on edge.
Bad luck has been following Gimbo since Rio 2016, when he broke his ankle on the cusp of the first Games where he was expected as a favorite. Then the redemption, three years ago, with the cast shown live on TV in the show that followed the gold shared with his friend Barshim. Paris 2024 was (is?) in the intentions of the Italian flag bearer, the Olympics of consecration: never has anyone won the high jump gold in two consecutive editions.
“Whatever the situation, I will be on that track,” Tamberi shouted immediately, in the Instagram post where on Sunday he announced that he had postponed his arrival in Paris by one day due to a kidney stone. He repeated it to everyone in these hours at the Village, where he rests (there was no training session scheduled today, only yesterday when he was actually flying from Rome) without a fever for almost two days. His determination is concentrated in the message posted in the evening on Instagram.
“Tomorrow will probably be the most difficult race of my entire life. It is no longer about knowing how I am, but what I will be able to do.” Then the appeal to all Italians, whose cheers in recent months had been represented by President Mattarella. “I know I shouldn’t ask you, but right now I really need to feel your support. I need to know how many of you will be by my side on the track tomorrow morning. You are my strength, and now, of that strength, I need it more than ever. I will fight with all of myself, sure that the work done up to 3 days ago cannot disappear into thin air. I have always said – the conclusion – that the heart and mind make the difference, now it is simply time to prove it.”
But Tamberi is weakened, significantly. The choice to push the diet to the extreme contributes, a common path to approach a competition where technique is fundamental, but weight plays its part: rising like a feather and brushing the bar is the mantra of every high jumper. A precise number is not public, but compared to the standard 80 kilograms in February, he was already -5, and after the drop, it was even more abrupt, at least a dozen kilograms in total, perhaps below the 70 threshold. The photos and the comparison with the memories of Tokyo clearly indicate this. Gimbo himself had spoken of immense sacrifices, who just two days ago had posted his photo in an ice bath, his abdomen incredibly dry, indicating his guidelines: diet, meditation, sleep control, rest… Tamberi is seeking the inner strength that will allow him to once again push his limit, his wife Chiara Bontempi ideally by his side, here from the hotel in Paris, for the most difficult task. Still Barshim, the Korean Woo, the American Harrison, the Ukrainian Protsenko, the New Zealander Kerr.
But the real opponent is another. Tamberi must avoid chasing a height that would place him among the top 12 and further exhaust him: 2.29 immediately would be ideal, even if it is the same height that frustrated him at the European Championships in Rome two months ago, when he missed it twice and won gold by raising the bar by 6 centimeters to avoid disaster. A stroke of genius. The champion’s move. What remains for wounded Gimbo.
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