MEET MR. HAMISH KERR:
Men’s 31st OLYMPICS
CHAMPION OF HIGH JUMP.
HOW DID HE JUMP?
TO THE GLORY OF GOLD
AND WHAT DOES IT PRESENT?
With ELLIOTT DENMAN / DWIGHT STONES
Correct me if I’m wrong, but the newly enthroned men’s olympics
High Jump Champion, Mr. Hamish Kerr (once):
(a) 31st different champion of a staged event
31 times.
(b) First New Zealand athlete to strike gold
Games since John Walker ran the 1,500 meters in Montreal in 1976.
(c) First male athlete from the Southern Hemisphere to win
Olympic Games since John Winter of Australia in London in 1948.
(d) The first Olympian named Carey to hit at the Olympics
track and field gold as Canada’s Bobby Kerr wins 200m title
in London in 1908
(e) Sorry Mr Josh Kerr of Team GB, Cole Hawker of the USA has reached all 14/100ths of his 1500th Paris metres.
a second before you.
(f) Also excuse the passing of American golden boys Sabin Carr (1928 pole vaulter); Bill Carr (1932 400, 4×400); Henry Carr (1964 200, 4×400) – sure, you sound close, but Carr doesn’t spell Kerr.
(g) First boy from New Zealand named Hamish to claim Olympic gold
Rower Hamish Bond rowed strongly for the NZ eight at Tokyo 2021.
(h) And to do all this, he had to contend with American rival Shelby McEwen, in the form of her life, as well as Qatari standout Mutaz Essa Barshim, now the Games’ first (and only) quadruple HJ. and all-around medalist (silver London 2012 and Rio 2016), gold with Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi (Tokyo 2021), now bronze (Paris 2024).
All that being said, let me now hand over to Mr. Dwight Stones, Mr. High Jump;
Nineteen times national champion; triple world record holder; a three-time Olympian, two-time Oly bronze medalist (Munich 1972, Montreal 1976) and, without a doubt, one of the best sports broadcasters ever and one of the smartest analysts for decades.
So here’s how Mr. Dwight Stones saw it go down (er, we mean):
“Coming into the 2024 Olympic High Jump, I felt that New Zealand’s Hamish Kerr was coming in with the best annual record and that he could match or exceed his NR/PR of 2.36m (7’8 3/4”). ) to win gold.
Defending champions Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar and Italian Gianmarco Tamberi, both 31, have both been plagued by injury/illness in the final weeks leading up to Paris, including Barshim pulling out of the Diamond League finals in London with a recurring calf strain. a problem that appeared during the election cycle. Tambery jumped extremely well to win the European Championships in June, but has since suffered an injury and ended up in hospital a week before the Olympics with kidney stones.
“Remember, no male high jumper has ever repeated as Olympic high jump champion. I also felt that American Shelby McEwen could make the podium if she could stay clear of her SB/PR of 2.33m (7’7 3/4”) or thereabouts. I also believed that Korea’s Woo Sang-hyeok could be competitive based on his performance in Tokyo.
“The competition went quickly thanks to the height selection by the Games Committee. In the final, all jumpers cleared the height, including Tambery, who cleared 2.22m (7’3 1/4″) and cleared on her third attempt. She posted on social media that morning that she was pulling out of the final and returning to the hospital. : I was amazed to see him jump in the warm-up. But he couldn’t manage his opening height.
“Barshim was jumping near the top of the order and had a perfect 2.34m (7’8″), which pushed him to the top. Kerr looked too casual and sloppy to me at 2.27m (7’5 1/4”) which led to two misses at 2.31m (7’7″), but his third attempt seemed to spark him up again to him
McEwen missed out on that height, but PR’d a huge 2.34m (7’8”) on her third attempt to stay in the medal hunt.
The bar was raised to 2.36m (7’8 3/4″) with four jumpers remaining and Barshim, now first in the jumping order, was leading until his first miss of the competition. Kerr and McEwen surprised at that height on the first attempt, with another PR American and a PR/NR game for Kerr. Italy’s Stefano Sottile was the fourth jumper in the medley and he PR’d 2.31m and 2.34m, but 2.36m was too big of a ask.
“Honestly, I was surprised when Barshim didn’t go all the way to 2.36m after his first miss, seeing two jumpers go away right after him. A distance of 2.36m will give him nothing but three attempts at the next height. He missed badly on his second attempt at 2.36m and decided to take the rest of his jump to the next height. As he had no misses at 2.34m, he was no worse than bronze.
The bar rose to 2.38m (7’9 3/4″) and Barshim’s one effort was nowhere near enough to settle for bronze. McEwen and Kerr were level at this point as they both cleared 2.36m on their first attempts and they both missed two before that.
“The American was now jumping first in the order, which was a big advantage for the Kiwi. But only Kerr’s second jump was decent, and now both fighters faced the same dilemma as Barshim and Tambery in Tokyo; to jump or not to jump, that was the question.
“Do they share the gold like the Qatari and Italian from 2021, or do they fight to the competitive death, one winning gold and the other silver?”
“It seemed that McEwen wanted to continue, but I know people who told me that Kerr would never accept a share. No matter which direction it was, the flight was on.
“McEwen, first in the order, did his one jump at 2.38m and it wasn’t close, same for Kerr. The bar was lowered to 2.36m and the same result, although Kerr’s attempt was superior to McEwen’s. The bar has been lowered again, this time to 2.34m. McEwen’s legs were clearly dead and Kerr sailed easily and began a winning run around the field.
Kerr is 27 (he would have turned 28 on August 17), a year younger than Barshim and Tambery were in Tokyo. He will be 31 in Los Angeles (in what will be his third Olympics), the same age as the Qatari and Italian were in Paris.
“Can he stay healthy and engaged enough to be the first man to successfully defend his well-earned title? time will tell.”
xxxxx:
Signing now, Elliott Denman, whose Olympic event in 1956 required continuous contact with the ground.
