Showman, Italian jumper Gianmarco Tamberi will be one of the attractions of the Olympic Games this summer.
On Saturday, August 10, around 8 p.m., the show will begin. You will definitely have to be in front of your television at that time to watch the high jump final, which is likely to be spectacular. Indeed, the Italian Gianmarco Tamberi should once again provide the show, both on and off the track. The eccentric 32-year-old jumper is a specialist in remarkable performances, the most recent being his simulation of an injury after winning the European Championships competition last June in Rome, in front of his home crowd. He ended up taking out springs from his shoe, to the great relief of his home crowd.
Athletics runs in the family at Tamberi. Father Marco held the Italian high jump record and competed at the 1980 Moscow Games. The man who now coaches the reigning Olympic champion unfortunately had to end his career prematurely after being hit by a truck. Gianmarco’s brother Gianluca also competed on the track and field, but not in the same discipline as his brother and father. He preferred the javelin to the high jump, and held several Italian records in the youth categories.
Gianmarco Tamberi has won everything since the start of his professional career in 2011. European indoor and outdoor champion, world champion also indoor and outdoor, he especially won the competition at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021. Absent from Rio in 2016 due to a broken ankle when he was the huge favorite, he caused a sensation in Tokyo alongside Qatari jumper Mutaz Barshim. The two men had in fact performed exactly the same competition, and decided to share the gold medal rather than jump a bar to decide between them. It was then the first time that two athletes had won a high jump competition together. A leader of Italian athletics, Gianmarco Tamberi will also be Italy’s flag bearer for the opening ceremony in Paris, alongside fencer Arianna Errigo.