Two Rival Olympic Athletes Share Gold For The First Time In 113 Years After Double Tokyo Games Triumph

History was made at Tokyo's Olympic Stadium after Qatari athlete Mutaz Essa Barshim and Italian Gianmarco Tamberi agreed to share the Olympic gold in the men's high jump on Sunday following years of a friendly rivalry.

Barshim, 30, and Tamberi, 20, both finished with jumps of 2.37 meters and recorded no failed attempts until they attempted to clear 2.39 meters, Aljazeera reported.

After three failed attempts each at that height, an Olympic official offered a jump-off to decide the winner when Barshim popped the question, "Can we have two golds?"

The match official nodded and soon saw the two athletes sealing the agreement as they clasped hands and jumped for the newly attained Olympic victory. Barshim could be heard declaring, “history, my friend!” as he embraced Tamberi, who has been his pal in the competitive sport since 2017.

It has been more than a century, 113 years to be exact, since the last athletics medal was shared in the Tokyo Games, according to Marca.

"I look at [Tamberi], he looks at me, and we know it. We just look at each other and we know, that is it, it is done. There is no need," Barshim said.

"He is one of my best friends, not only on the track but outside the track. We work together. This is a dream come true. It is the true spirit, the sportsman spirit, and we are here delivering this message."

It was also a favorable situation for Italian athlete Tamberi, who returned to the sport after injuring his ankle days before the Rio Games in 2016. He was initially told by his doctors that he may not be able to compete anymore.

"After my injuries, I just wanted to come back, but now I have this gold, it's incredible," Tamberi said. "I dreamed of this so many times. It's been a long journey."

Belarusian high-jumper Maksim Nedasekau, who also cleared 2.37, took the bronze on countback. South Korean Woo Sang-hyeok and Australian Brandon Starc, the younger brother of cricketer Mitchell, both cleared 2.35 meters to finish fourth and fifth.

Barshim won bronze at the London 2012 Games, with the medal later upgraded to silver. He snagged another silver in Rio four years later in 2016 and then won two successive world titles in 2017 and 2019.

His personal best of 2.43 meters is the second-highest jump of all time, just a shy 0.02 behind Cuban Javier Sotomayor's world record mark of 2.45 set in 1993, Reuters noted.