Italy’s two shock 100m and high jump Olympic champions joked about both winning gold medals over a late-night PlayStation session hours before their victories, but decided the idea was “too crazy”.
The story was revealed by the Olympic 100m champion Marcell Jacobs after he stormed to 100m victory in 9.80 seconds. Immediately after the race Jacobs howled with joy and hugged his compatriot Gianmarco Tamberi, who just five minutes earlier had also won a high jump gold medal by clearing 2.37m, sharing first place with Qatar’s Mutaz Barshim.
Tamberi said: “We played PlayStation – Formula One and NBA. In NBA I destroyed him! But he is a good friend and we just relaxed. When you are preparing for a big event, it can’t just be Netflix to relax.”
Jacobs also credited a rapprochement with his estranged American father for inspiring him to become an Olympic champion. Jacobs, who has an Italian mother, spent the first 18 months of his life in El Paso, Texas, before moving to Brescia with his mother when his dad, a US soldier, was transferred to South Korea.
“My mental coach said I needed to establish contact with my father,” he explained after beating the American Fred Kerley into the silver medal position with the Canadian sprinter Andre De Grasse winning bronze. “I had never gotten to know my father. We had grown apart. We hadn’t talked for some time. That gave me the energy and the will to be everything to be here today.
“I thought: I can really deliver in these Olympics. I can try to run as fast as possible, and be able to fulfil my dream since childhood. I have now won the Olympic gold medal and run my best time ever.”
Asked whether he believed it was possible to win gold in Tokyo, he said: “It was my childhood dream to win an Olympic Games and obviously a dream can turn into something different, but to run this final and win it is a dream come true.
“I want to thank my family that has always supported me, my children and my mum, who has been my No 1 fan since I was a child, and my team who have followed me and those who support me.”
He also praised Tamberi: “We all know his story – he could have won in Rio but he had an injury, but being here together is something spectacular. I believed in him and believed in myself.”
