Camaraderie and Sportsmanship in the Tokyo Olympics 2021 !
What a soul-soothing story of love and camaraderie:
Scene: The final of men’s high jump at the #TokyoOlympics2021
#Italy‘s Gianmarco Tamberi was competing with #Qatar‘s Mutaz Essa Barshim in the final.
Both of them jumped 2.37 meters and were at par ! Olympic officials gave three more attempts to each of them, but they were unable to reach more than 2.37 meters.
One more attempt was given to both of them, but Tamberi withdrew from the last attempt due to a serious leg injury. The moment when there was no other opponent in front of Barshim, the moment when he could have easily approached the gold alone !
Barshim paused, then asked the official “Can the gold be shared between the two of us if I withdraw from the final attempt ?”
The official checks, confirms and says, “Yes then the gold will be shared between the two of you”.
Barshim then had nothing to think about, and announced his own withdrawal from the last attempt.
Seeing this, the Italian opponent Tamberi ran and hugged Barshim and screamed !
It is the first time since the #olympics1912 that a gold medal was shared in athletics – in both pentathlon and decathlon at the #StockholmGames.
Moral: What we witnessed that historical moment was an exemplary share of love and camaraderie in sports that is deeper than the Pacific Ocean and higher than the Mount Everest peak. This is what makes sports great in the true sense of the word. It reveals the heart-touching #sportsmanship that makes differences created through religions, colors and borders irrelevant and redundant !
The best part is Barshim didn’t need to do it. No one would have accused him of unfair play if he was the sole gold medalist.
The story made me cry with joy and sorrow both.
Why sorrow?
Watching on TV just few moments ago how the BCCI is putting roadblocks against #KPL. Sad for #India having introduced gutter politics into noble sports like Cricket, against #Pakistan. First it was through the IPL and now in KPL.
I hope they could learn a lesson or two of sportsmanship and not drag hate politics into sports.
Nevertheless the pictures below of smiles, screams, tears, hugs, shared joy and the ultimate sense of fulfillment are so very therapeutic and they only convince me that generosity still reigns supreme, over all kinds of evils even in these times of xenophobia.
Blind to Bounds 
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