In shocking turn of events, Shelby McEwen ends up winning silver after refusing to share gold medal with Hamish Kerr in high jump final

Shelby McEwen settled for silver in the Men's high jump at the Paris Olympics after refusing to share the gold medal with Hamish Kerr.

In shocking turn of events, Shelby McEwen ends up winning silver after refusing to share gold medal with Hamish Kerr in high jump final

Shelby McEwen settled for silver after Hamish Kerr secured gold (Via Open Source/X)

The Men’s high jump final at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Saturday took an interesting turn when both Shelby McEwen and Hamish Kerr cleared the 2.36 meters and tied for the gold medal. However, it turns out they weren’t quite impressed by the thought of sharing gold, so they refused it and stalled for the first two ranks– gold and silver. 

The high jump, which started at 2.17 meters, went high up to 2.34 meters, with only three athletes left up for that. While defending champion Mutaz Essa Barshim settled for the bronze, Kerr and McEwen competed for the gold. However, to everyone’s surprise, both of them cleared the 2.36 meters in their first attempts all three times. 

YouTube video

The jumpers were given two options: either to share the gold like their predecessors, Qatar’s Barshim and Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi in the same situation did at the Tokyo Olympics after tying for the gold, or to go for a jump-off. 

FS Video

However, McEwen had no interest in sharing the medal, so he decided to go for the jump-off. They competed against each other at 2.38 meters, which both failed to do in their first attempts, after which the bar was lowered to 2.36 meters.

https://twitter.com/ZachLowy/status/1822350193888464938

The American jumper couldn’t clear it, but Kerr did, resulting in him winning silver and Kerr winning the glory of gold. While McEwen lost his gold, the USA also lost an opportunity to be tied with China for gold medals.

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Hamish Kerr reflects on historic moment with jump-off decision

The defending champions of the Tokyo Olympics Barshim and Tamberi couldn’t reach the gold as the latter was eliminated from the contest early on and the former took home the bronze medal. Since the two had previously settled for gold, Kerr and McEwen were given the same option as them. 

I have so much respect for what they did in Tokyo. But I always thought that to add to the story and to be able to be given the chance to actually do the jump-off would be so amazing. I knew straight away that we were going to make history and we did that. 
Hamish Kerr said
Shelby McEwen and Hamish Kerr at Paris Olympics, 2024
Shelby McEwen and Hamish Kerr at Paris Olympics, 2024 (Via NY Post)

He further shared that neither he nor McEwen wanted to settle for sharing the ultimate prize and though they didn’t properly discuss it, they nodded at each other and chose to jump off. After winning the jump-off, the New Zealand jumper celebrated his gold at the Paris Olympics by running around the field.

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