Lamont Marcell Jacobs, Gianmarco Tamberi pull off Italian job in Tokyo for gold

Italian athletes Lamont Marcell Jacobs and Gianmarco Tamberi took the world by storm to win the men's 100m and high jump gold medals, respectively, at the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday.

Published : Aug 01, 2021 21:00 IST

Lamont Marcell Jacobs celebrates with fellow Italian gold medallist Gianmarco Tamberi (high jump) after winning the men's 100m event at the Tokyo Olympics.
Lamont Marcell Jacobs celebrates with fellow Italian gold medallist Gianmarco Tamberi (high jump) after winning the men's 100m event at the Tokyo Olympics.
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Lamont Marcell Jacobs celebrates with fellow Italian gold medallist Gianmarco Tamberi (high jump) after winning the men's 100m event at the Tokyo Olympics.

Italy's Lamont Marcell Jacobs shocked the world to win the Olympic men's 100 metres in a European record timing of 9.80 seconds. American Fred Kerley won silver, while Canada's Andre de Grasse took bronze.

The Italian sprinter won his heat on Saturday at 9.94s, and bettered that timing with a 9.84s-run in his semifinal on Sunday. He eventually went on to become the first athlete from his nation to win the Olympic 100m crown.

"I don’t know, it’s a dream, a dream, it is fantastic. Maybe tomorrow I can imagine what they are saying, but today it is incredible," said Jacobs, who will also take part in the 4X100m relay at the Tokyo Olympics.

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Immediately after winning the race, the 26-year-old went on to hug fellow Italian gold medallist Gianmarco Tamberi on the sidelines. Jacobs claimed he felt happy for Tamberi, who had earlier shared the high jump title with Qatar's Mutaz Essa Barshim in dramatic fashion.

"When I got to Gianmarco, we support each other. We all know his story -- he could have won in Rio (2016) but had an injury, but being here together is something spectacular. I believe in him and believed in myself," he added.

"It's been my dream since I was a child. I need a week or so to understand what has happened. Seeing Gimbo (Tamberi) win the high jump gold fired me up a lot."

Tamberi was unable to compete in the Rio Games due to a leg injury, having been in form following titles at the World Indoor and European Championships back in 2016.

Both Tamberi and Barshim were tied for the first spot on Sunday after clearing a height of 2.37m. However, both of them couldn't clear the 2.39m-mark, and agreed to share the top prize on countback.

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