Olympian Gianmarco Tamberi Apologizes to Wife After Losing Wedding Ring During Opening Ceremony

Olympic high jumper Gianmarco Tamberi issued a public apology to his wife Chiara Bontempi Tamberi after he lost his wedding ring while serving as Italy’s flag-bearer during the Opening Ceremony.

Give Gianmarco Tamberi a gold medal for this apology of Olympic proportions.

After the Italian high jumper lost his wedding ring in Paris’ River Seine July 26 while serving as one of his country’s flag bearers on a boat during the 2024 Olympics Opening Ceremony, he confessed all on social media to make amends with his wife.

“I’m sorry, my love, I’m so sorry,” the Olympian wrote in Italian on Instagram in a post shared on both his and spouse Chiara Bontempi Tamberi‘s pages. “Too much water, too many kilos lost in the last few months or maybe the irrepressible enthusiasm of what we were doing. Probably all three things, the fact remains that I felt it slip away.”

The 32-year-old, who shared his Olympic flag-bearer duties with Arianna Errigo, a fencer, said he saw the ring “fly” and “followed it with my gaze until I saw it bounce inside the boat,” which gave him hope.

But alas, “the bounce was unfortunately in the wrong direction and floating more than a thousand times in the air,” he said, adding, “I saw it dive into the water as if that was the only place where it wanted to be.”

Gianmarco, who included in his post pics of himself and his wife at their 2022 wedding and of their bands, as well as an image of Elijah Wood‘s Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring photoshopped with his face, added that if this “really had to happen,” he “couldn’t imagine a better place.”

“It will remain forever in the riverbed of the city of love, flown away while I was trying to raise the Italian tricolor as high as possible during the opening ceremony of the most important sporting event in the world,” continued the athlete. “If I had to invent an excuse I would never have been so imaginative.”

The Olympic champion—who famously agreed to share the high jump gold medal at the 2020 Olympics with Quatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim—also took it a step further to make a unique proposal to his wife.

“If you want, we will also throw yours into that river so that they will be together forever and we will have one more excuse to, as you always asked me, renew our vows and get married again.”

He continued, “I love you my love. May it be a good omen to return home with an even bigger gold!!!”

As for how his wife responded, in addition to posting his message on her own Instagram, she also wrote in an emotional comment, “Only you can turn something like this into something romantic,” including two crying face emojis and a heart.

Gianmarco reposted her comment on his Instagram Stories, adding, “100 pt exp.”