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On August 10, local time, a turning point occurred in the men's high jump final of the Paris Olympics. American Shelby McEwen and New Zealander Hamish Kerr had the same final score, so they could share the gold medal according to regulations. But the two ended up having a tiebreaker. The media had different opinions on who refused to share the gold medal. The American media said that Kerr chose to refuse and eventually won the tiebreaker, while American McEwen won the silver medal.

On the day of the competition, New Zealander Kerr and American player McEwen both jumped 2.36 meters in the regular season, and then failed in their three attempts to jump 2.38 meters. When the referee signaled whether to end the competition, Kerr chose to refuse.

In the subsequent extra round, the height of the bar was lowered from 2.38 meters to 2.36 meters, and both of them failed again. In the end, Cole won the gold medal with a score of over 2.34 meters, while McEwen unfortunately won the silver medal.

New Zealand athlete Cole won the high jump championship. (Screenshot of US media report)

According to US media reports, McEwen said that it was New Zealander Kerr who first proposed the decision to play an extra game. "He said it first, and I agreed. In a way, I was a little tired, and I definitely wanted to share the gold medal with him. But I still agreed."

The Washington Post said that McEwen knew that the United States was competing with China in terms of the number of gold medals, and if he won the gold medal, he would also receive a $50,000 bonus from the World Athletics Federation for Olympic champions (the shared bonus is $25,000 per person). McEwen admitted that he needed to support his family.

The Associated Press reported that the Olympics have come to an end, and China has surpassed the United States (38) to top the gold medal list with 39 gold medals. If McEwen shares the gold medal with Cole in this game, the number of gold medals for China and the United States will be equal.

Three years ago, a similar scene occurred in the high jump competition of the Tokyo Olympics. At that time, Italian athlete Tamberi and Qatari athlete Barshim failed in three attempts to challenge the height of 2.39 meters. In the end, the two agreed to share a gold medal after negotiation. Afterwards, the two friends hugged and cried on the field.

Source: Global Times Chen Yuanrun