Italian high jumper Gianmarco Tamberi couldn't have felt more proud as he raised his country's flag during the Olympics opening ceremony in Paris on Friday. Floating down the River Seine with 393 athletes from the Italian team, the flag bearer was overwhelmed by the majesty of the moment as hundreds of thousands of local spectators waved at the floating parade of 85 boats carrying 205 delegations.
But as Tamberi strained to "carry the Italian Tricolore as high as possible" he saw his wedding ring fly off his finger, bounce off the deck and disappear into the river.
On Saturday, Tamberi apologized to his wife, Chiara Bontempi Tamberi, in a post shared on his Instagram page. The original text is in Italian and we're sure some of his romantic phrasing is missing in translation.
"I'm sorry, my love. I'm so sorry," he wrote before attaching blame to the raining conditions, recent weight loss and the heat of the moment.
"Too much water, too many kilos lost in the past few months or maybe the uncontrollable enthusiasm of what we were doing. Probably all three things," he wrote. "The fact remains that I felt [my ring] slip away, I saw it fly… I followed her with a glance until I saw her bounce inside the boat.”
He continued, “A Glimmer of Hope… But unfortunately the bounce was in the wrong direction and floating more than a thousand times in the air I saw her dive into the water like that was the only place she wanted to be.”
The athlete described those emotionally painful moments as lasting "an eternity."
But then he flipped the script.
"But if it was meant to happen… I couldn't imagine a better place," he reasoned. "It will stay forever in the riverbed of the City of Love, flown away while I tried to carry the Italian Tricolore as high as possible during the opening ceremony of the most important sporting event in the world. If I had to invent an apology I would never have been this imaginative."
Tamberi concluded, "I think there might be a huge poetic side to yesterday's misdeed, and if you want, we'll throw yours into that river, too, so they'll be together forever, and we'll have one more excuse to, like you've always asked, renew our vows and get married anew. I love you, my love. May it be auspicious to come home with even bigger gold!!!"
The story of the 32-year-old's heartfelt apology was picked up worldwide by top news, celebrity and sports sites, including nytimes.com, people.com and espn.com. On Instagram, the post claims 190,000 Likes — and counting.
In the photo, at top, Tamberi is shown sharing Italian flag-bearing duties with three-time medalist Arriana Errigo as the rest of the Italian contingent looks on. Tamberi is also shown, above, posing for a selfie with Chiara during a visit to Paris earlier this year.
Credits: Images via Instagram / gianmarcotamberi and Instagram / bontempichiara.