MEET MR. HAMISH KERR:
THE 31ST MEN’S OLYMPIC
HIGH JUMP CHAMPION.
HOW HE LEAPED
TO GOLDEN GLORY
AND WHAT IT REPRESENTED.
BY ELLIOTT DENMAN / WITH DWIGHT STONES
Kerr-rect me if I’m fallacious, however the newly-throned males’s Olympic
excessive bounce champion, Mr. Hamish Kerr is (abruptly):
(a) The thirty first completely different champion of an occasion that has been staged
31 occasions.
(b) The primary New Zealand male observe and area athlete to strike gold on the
Video games since John Walker ran off with the 1500 meters at Montreal in 1976.
(c) The primary male athlete from the Southern Hemisphere to win the
Olympic HJ since John Winter of Australia in London in 1948.
(d) The primary Kerr-named male Olympian to strike Olympic
observe and area gold since Bobby Kerr of Canada dashed to the 200-meter title
at London in 1908.
(e) Sorry, Mr. Josh Kerr of Group GB, USA’s Cole Hocker received to his 1500th Paris meter all of 14/one centesimal of
a second earlier than you.
(f) Sorry, too, previous American golden guys Sabin Carr (1928 pole vault); Invoice Carr (1932 400, 4×400); Henry Carr (1964 200, 4×400) – certain, you sound shut, however C-a-r-r doesn’t spell Okay-e-r-r.
(g) The primary Hamish-named fella from New Zealand to assert Olympic gold since
rower Hamish Bond pulled a mighty oar for the NZ eight at Tokyo 2021.
(h) And to do all this, he needed to battle off American challenger Shelby McEwen, within the type of his life, in addition to the illustrious Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar, now the Video games’ first (and solely) four-time HJ and full-set medalist (silver London 2012 and Rio 2016), co-gold with Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy (Tokyo 2021), now bronze (Paris 2024.)
All that stated, let me now hand off to Mr. Dwight Stones, Mr. Excessive Bounce himself:
Nineteen-time Nationwide Champion; three-time world record-breaker; three-time Olympian, two-time Oly bronze medalist (Munich 1972, Montreal 1976.) And – for certain, for certain – for many years, one of many sport’s greatest–ever broadcasters and keenest analysts.
So right here’s how Mr Dwight Stones noticed it go down (er, we imply up):
“ Going into the 2024 Olympic excessive bounce competitors, I felt like Hamish Kerr of New Zealand was coming in with the most effective yearly file and that he was able to matching or exceeding his NR/PR of two.36m (7’8 3/4”) to be able to win the Gold.
“ Defending champions Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar and Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy, each 31 years previous, and each turned up with accidents/sicknesses within the final weeks main as much as Paris together with Barshim withdrawing from the ultimate Diamond League occasion in London with a recurring calf drawback which flared in the course of the qualifying spherical. Tamberi had jumped exceedingly effectively in successful the European Championship in June however had since picked up an damage and was hospitalized the week previous to the Olympics with kidney stones.
“Keep in mind that no male excessive jumper has ever repeated as Olympic excessive bounce champion. I additionally felt that American Shelby McEwen was able to getting on the rostrum if he might keep miss- free via his SB/PR of two.33m (7’7 3/4”) or thereabouts. I additionally believed Woo Sang-hyeok of Korea may very well be aggressive based mostly on his efficiency in Tokyo .
“The competitors moved rapidly because of the selection of heights by the Video games Committee. All of the jumpers within the remaining cleared a peak together with Tamberi who got here into the competitors at 2.22m (7’3 1/4”) and cleared on his third try. That morning, he had put out on social media that he was withdrawing from the ultimate and going again to the hospital. I used to be amazed to see him leaping in warm-ups. However he couldn’t handle any increased than his opening peak.
“Barshim was leaping close to the highest of the order and was flawless via 2.34m (7’8”) which had him within the lead. Kerr appeared far too informal and sloppy to me via 2.27m (7’5 1/4”) which led to 2 misses at 2.31m (7’7”), however his third try clearance appeared to re-energize him.
“ McEwen was miss-free via that peak however PR’d on an enormous third try clearance at 2.34m (7’8”) to remain within the medal hunt.
“The crossbar was raised to 2.36m (7’8 3/4”) with 4 jumpers remaining and Barshim, first within the leaping order now, within the lead till his first miss of the competitors. Kerr and McEwen stunned with first-attempt clearances at that peak, one other PR for the American and a PR/NR match for Kerr. Stefano Sotile of Italy was the fourth jumper within the combine and he had PR’d at each 2.31m and a couple of.34m however 2.36m was too huge an ask.
“Frankly, I used to be amazed when Barshim didn’t go to 2.36m after his first miss seeing as two jumpers cleared proper after him. A clearance at 2.36m would do nothing for him aside from give him three makes an attempt on the subsequent peak. He missed badly on his second try at 2.36m and selected to go his remaining bounce to the subsequent peak. As a result of he had no misses via 2.34m, he was in no worse than bronze place.
“The bar went as much as 2.38m (7’9 3/4”) and Barshim’s one effort was not shut and he settled for bronze. McEwen and Kerr had been precisely tied at this level as each had cleared 2.36m on their first makes an attempt they usually each had two misses previous to that.
“The American was now leaping first within the order, an enormous benefit for the Kiwi. However solely Kerr’s second bounce was respectable and now the 2 warriors had been confronted with the identical dilemma as Barshim and Tamberi in Tokyo: To leap-off or to not jump-off, that was the query.
” Do they share the gold just like the Qatarian and the Italian from 2021 or do they battle to the aggressive demise, one incomes gold, the opposite silver ?
“ It appeared that McEwen needed to proceed however I’ve individuals within the know who informed me Kerr would by no means settle for a share. Whichever manner it was, the jump-off was on.
“McEwen, up first within the order, took his one bounce at 2.38m and it wasn’t shut, identical for Kerr. The bar was lowered to 2.36m and the identical consequence though Kerr’s try was superior to McEwen’s. The bar is lowered as soon as once more, this time to 2.34m. McEwen’s legs had been clearly lifeless and Kerr sailed over simply and launched into a victory jog across the infield.
“Kerr is 27 years previous (he’d flip 28 on Aug. 17), one 12 months youthful than Barshim and Tamberi had been in Tokyo. He’ll be 31 in Los Angeles (which might be his third Olympics), the identical age the Qatarian and the Italian had been in Paris.
“Can he keep wholesome and engaged sufficient to be the primary man to efficiently defend his well-earned title? Solely time will inform.”
xxxxx
Signing off now, Elliott Denman, whose Olympic occasion in 1956 required continued contact with the bottom.
