Gianmarco Tamberi’s defence of the high jump gold medal he shared in one of the most iconic moments of the Tokyo Olympics is under threat after he was taken to hospital with a suspected kidney problems, four days before the qualifying event.
Three years ago, Tamberi and Mutaz Barshim of Qatar, who had been friends and rivals for years, agreed to share gold after asking permission from the event officials.
On Sunday, however, Italian Tambiri posted a picture of himself in a hospital bed.
“Unbelievable... This can’t be true,” he said.
“Yesterday, two hours after I wrote ‘I deserve it’ on social media, I felt a stabbing pain in my side. Emergency room, CT scan, ultrasound, blood test. Probable kidney stone.
“And now I find myself, three days before the event for which I sacrificed everything, lying in a bed, helpless, with a fever of 38.8.”
Tamberi said he had been advised to postpone his flight to Paris until tomorrow.
“Only one thing is certain, I don’t know how I will get there, but I will be there on that platform and I will give my soul until the last jump, whatever my condition will be,” he wrote.
Tamberi’s preparations looked to be on course when he jumped a world leading 2.37 metres to win the European title in June, but he then picked up a minor thigh injury.
Barshim has also had injury problems, lengthening the odds on either man becoming the first to win two Olympic golds in the event that has been in every Olympics since 1896.
The qualifying competition is on Wednesday, with the final on Sunday.
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