Italian Flag Bearer Loses Wedding Ring in the Seine During Paris Olympic Opening Ceremony
Italian flag bearer and high jumper Gianmarco Tamberi shared an unfortunate moment from the Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics: His wedding ring slipped off his hand and fell into the Seine River!
Tamberi took to Instagram to talk about the moment and to apologize to his wife, Chiara Bontempi Tamberi. In remarks translated with the help of Google Translate, Tamberi wrote, “I’m sorry my love, I’m terribly sorry. Too much water, too many kilos lost in the last few months or perhaps the uncontainable enthusiasm of what we were doing. Probably all three, the fact remains that I heard it slip away, I saw it fly…. I followed it with my eyes until I saw it bounce inside the boat. But unfortunately, the bounce was in the wrong direction and floating more than a thousand times in the air I saw it dive into the water as if that was the only place it wanted to be.”
Tamberi noted that if he had to lose his wedding ring anywhere, he “couldn’t imagine a better place.” Why? He wrote, “It will remain forever in the riverbed of the City of Love.”
Tamberi then pitched an idea to his wife: She could throw her ring in the Seine. Why? ” … So that they will be together forever and we will have one more excuse to, as you have always asked me, renew our promises and get married again.”
Tamberi concluded, “I love you, my love. May it be a good omen for returning home with an even bigger gold!!!”
Tamberi’s wife, Chiara, took to the comment section and wrote, “Only you can turn something like this into something romantic.”
Seriously, this guy is good! Even without knowing him at all, you have to feel for him, and yet, it’s really impressive how sweet he made losing his wedding ring sound! Spouses the world over should take notes and remember this Instagram post, if they ever find themselves in the dog house after losing their wedding ring.
Oh, and if you looked at the image above of Tamberi and ask yourself when half of his beard is shaved off, this is just what he has done during competitions for years now. In a 2015 article from GQ, the outlet quoted him saying he does this to “entertain the crowd.” Then again, Tamberi is so traditionally handsome that he can probably get away with wearing his facial hair however he chooses.
