Hamish Kerr won the men’s high jump gold medal in the most amazing circumstances today.
The 27-year-old Kerr and American Shelby McEwen were the last two men standing in the high jump and then engaged in a white knuckle jump-off.
Kerr and McEwen each cleared 2.36m on their first attempt, the only jumpers to get over that height. Each then missed three jumps at 2.38m.
The jump-off for gold began at 2.38m, then went down to 2.36m and then 2.34m. Finally at 2.34m Kerr lifted his body over the bar, but McEwen missed again.
The gold medal belonged to the New Zealander.
Both men jumped 14 times during the evening, a huge workload for a high jumper. The bronze medal went to Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim, who cleared 2.34m.
Kerr entered the competition at 2.17m and cleared that, then 2.22m, then 2.27m, all at first attempt.
There was a hiccup at 2.31m when he missed twice and looked mighty relieved to get over on his final attempt.
As if buoyed by that effort, he got 2.34m and 2.36m, equalling his personal best, at first attempt.
The New Zealander certainly has the pedigree and is a worthy Olympic champion. He won the world indoor title this year, and has just won two at two big meetings on the Diamond League circuit. He’s also the Commonwealth Games champion.
Strange to think then that he was one jump away from not even qualifying for the final in Paris – he had two no jumps at 2.20m before getting over on his last attempt during the qualifying competition.
Kerr finished 10th in the high jump in the Tokyo Olympics and was in the stadium when the two leading high jumpers decided to share the gold medal. He said that was a very cool moment for the sport, but was never tempted to try to do the same today.
"I actually discussed that very thing with my team a few months ago," he said. "That was a great moment in Tokyo, but it's been done now. I want to help write new stories about high jumping in my own way.
"So today it never entered my mind to have a jump-off, and I'm pretty sure Shelby felt the same. When we'd both missed our 2.38 jumps, we just looked at each other and nodded and got down to business."
Kerr said that he thought he was winning the competition when he was attempting 2.38m. "I must have miscounted. I thought I was winning, so I asked an official and he said i wasn't. It was a jolt and I had to get back down to business."
Asked how he maintained his concentration for such a long event, Kerr said it helped to have other events going on in the stadium - something to take his mind off the high jump briefly.
He said in his first two jumps of the competition, there were a lot of nerves, but that with the crowd so loud and excitable there was a lot of energy coming from the stands. "I was able to ride that energy, feed off it."
Kerr is only the third New Zealander after long jumper Yvette Williams (1952) and shot putter Val Adams (2008 and 2012) to have won a field event gold medal at the Olympics.
His victory makes August 10, 2024 the most golden day in New Zealand Olympic history, following as it did the golds won by Lisa Carrington in the K1 500 and Lydia Ko in women’s golf earlier in the day.
It also means the 2024 Olympic team has won the most gold medals – nine so far, surpassing the eight won in 1984.