Hamish Kerr wasn’t interested in sharing high jump gold with Shelby McEwen

SAINT-DENIS, France — Since he was a kid growing up in Abbeville, Miss., Shelby McEwen always loved to jump. “Jumping off trampolines, jumping off hay, flipping all the time,” McEwen said. His love of jumping eventually led him to try the high jump in his early 20s, and from there it took him all the way to the Paris Olympics. Saturday night, McEwen was not sure he wanted to jump any longer. Remarkably, the high jump competition had reached the same inflection point as three years ago in Tokyo. Then, Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim and Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi indelibly had chosen to split the gold medal. Now, McEwen’s legs ached. Kerr, nicknamed “the Flying Kiwi,” had a different view: He had decided long before Saturday night that if he faced double gold, he would decline and jumpoff. Advertisement “We walked and talked to each other,” McEwen said. “He was like, ‘Let’s jumpoff.’ I was like, ‘I’m all for it.’ ” McEwen had no regrets late Saturday night, even as a silver medal hung around his neck. Three years after Barshim and Tamberi became the first jumpers to share gold, Kerr won gold in a nearly endless jumpoff for one. “He said it first, and I agreed to it,” McEwen said. “At some point, I kind of got fatigued. But I agreed to it, and it was all good.” McEwen never had decided what he would do in the event he tied for first place at the Olympics. He thought about the $50,000 prize World Athletics began awarding Olympic gold medalists this year, which meant $25,000 apiece. “Most definitely,” McEwen said. He decided then and there he wanted to add to high jump lore, not duplicate it. Advertisement “That was such a special moment to share as a high jump fraternity,” Kerr said. For me, I would have been so proud to come in second in jumpoff — probably prouder than sharing a gold medal knowing that had already happened. That was the big thing for me: Trying to add to that history in a different way.” When Kerr missed his third jump at 2.38 meters (7 feet, 6½ inches), regulation had ended in a tie, both men able to clear 2.36 meters. “At the end of the day, he wanted to jumpoff,” McEwen said. “At that point, I wasn’t going to go back and forth with it and argue with him. He wanted to jumpoff, and I was all in for it.” It soon became clear that high jumping after an entire high jump competition is difficult. Advertisement “If I hadn’t cleared that jump or one very soon, we’d probably still be out there,” Kerr said. “I thought it would be funny to run on the field like that,” Kerr said. “I won a state just out there playing around with it,” McEwen said. He played hoops for two years at Northwest Mississippi Community College, then got the idea to try high jump. “I just kept going, kept working hard,” McEwen said. “Hey, here I am now.” McEwen had lost a gold — and $25,000 — that could have been his, if not for an idealistic Kiwi. – This Summarize was created by Neural News AI (V1). Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2024/08/10/hamish-kerr-shelby-mcewen-high-jump-paris-olympics/