Staff USA excessive jumper Shelby McEwen stood by his choice to participate in a jump-off as a substitute of merely accepting a shared gold medal throughout Saturday’s excessive bounce last.
McEwen and New Zealand’s Hamish Kerr each cleared the two.36 meter jumps however have been unable to finish a 2.38 meter bounce through the regulation interval. At that time, McEwen and Kerr had two choices: they may conform to share the gold medal or they may go to a jump-off to attempt to settle the competitors. In 2021 on the Tokyo Olympics, Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim and Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi discovered themselves in the identical state of affairs and selected to share honors.
Kerr was adamant that he wished to maintain leaping, and McEwen was not about to combat him on it, although he admitted he was feeling very fatigued by that time.
“He stated it first, and I agreed to it,” McEwen stated, via Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post. “Sooner or later, I sort of received fatigued. I perhaps would have shared it with him, for positive. However I agreed to it, and it was all good.”
For his half, Kerr stated his choice got here out of wanting so as to add to high-jump lore, which meant not merely repeating the identical ending because the earlier Olympics had produced.
“For me, I’d have been so proud to return in second in jumpoff — most likely prouder than sharing a gold medal figuring out that had already occurred. That was the large factor for me: Making an attempt so as to add to that historical past otherwise,” Kerr stated.
Finally, the 2 missed 11 straight jumps — even with the bar being lowered — earlier than Kerr cleared a 2.34 meter bounce to win gold. McEwen needed to accept silver, however stated he didn’t remorse his choice in any respect.
The shared gold medal within the earlier Olympics made for a memorable sight, however it’s comprehensible why these two most popular to push ahead. They’re competing on the highest stage, in any case, and unquestionably wished to settle this.