False Narrative About High Jumpers Sharing Gold in Olympics Goes Viral

The gold medal was shared as per the rules of the Olympics, not because of a player's injury.

A photograph showing Olympic athletes Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar and Italy's Gianmarco Tamberi hugging each other after winning the gold medal in the ongoing 2020 Tokyo Olympics has gone viral with a false narrative.

According to the viral posts, Barshim pulled out of the competition because "Tampberi retreated from the final attempt due to a serious leg injury."

However, we found that the claim made in the viral post was false. According to the various news reports, both the players decided not to participate in a tie-breaking jump-off after they cleared the same height of 2.37 meters.

CLAIM

The viral post contained a long write up talking about the "incident" in detail and said that both made the a 2.37 meter jump and remained equal but "Tampberry retreated from the final attempt due to a serious leg injury.[sic]"

"But Bershim's mind was going through something and then thinking about something, he asked an officer, 'If I also retreat from the last attempt, can a gold medal be shared between the two of us?' Shortly after, an official investigates and confirms and says 'Yes Basic Gold will be shared between you two. Bershim had nothing to think about anymore. She announced her withdrawal from the last attempt[sic],'" the post went on to say.

Archives of more such posts on Facebook can be found here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

We checked for details on the incident and found several reports on it, including that in The Quint. The reports mentioned that the two athletes, who have been friends for a very long time, decided to share the gold after a rules official said the pair was allowed to do so.

We also checked news reports on Tamberi's injury but didn't see any report that said that he got injured while competing in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

On 1 August, both the jumpers made attempts at 2.39 meters but failed and were tied at 2.37 metres. The players would have had to go for a jump-off when they were told they could share the gold medal and both agreed and embraced each other.

Video clips of this conversation with officials was shared by several users on social media.

Fave moment of the Olympics so far. Barshim (Qatar) and Tamberi (Italy) were tied in the high-jump final. The official is there talking about a prospective jump-off, but Barshim asks immediately: "Can we have two golds?" One look, no words exchanged, they know they're sharing it. pic.twitter.com/E3SneYFocA

— Andrew Fidel Fernando (@afidelf) August 1, 2021

A report published on the official website of Olympics also didn't mention anything about Tamberi injuring himself during the competition. The rules on World Athletics' website also explains why and how the decision was made.

In a video of post-match press conference, Barshim had talked about the reasons behind his decision to share the gold medal. He mentioned that both failed to finish the 2.39 meter jump.

“For me, coming here, I know for a fact that for the performance I did, I deserve that gold. He did the same thing. So, I know he deserves that Gold," Barshim said.

On the World Athletics' website, we also found that both Tamberi and Barshim had faced serious injuries in the past. In 2016, Tamberi had suffered a ligament tear in his left ankle because of which he had to miss the 2016 Rio Olympics. In 2018, Barshim tore ankle ligaments while trying to break the world record for high jump at 2.46 meters.

Clearly, the claim that Tamberi had to pull out of the competition because of an injury and that is why Barshim decided to share the gold medal is false. In reality, both players decided to do so.

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