Olympic champion makes grovelling apology to wife after losing wedding ring: ‘Too much water’

Gianmarco Tamberi, who will defend his title in Paris, lost his ring aboard Italy’s boat during the opening ceremony on the Seine

Olympic champion Gianmarco Tamberi has made a grovelling apology to his wife after losing his wedding ring at the opening ceremony in Paris.

The high jumper, who famously shared the Tokyo Olympic title with Mutaz Barshim, revealed his ring slipped while on Italy’s boat travelling along the River Seine.

Tamberi, who is one of Italy’s flagbearers at the Olympics alongside Arianna Errigo, made a bold offer to his wife after the agony of seeing his ring drop into the water.

“I'm sorry my love, I'm so sorry,” Tamberi said on social media. “Too much water, too many kilograms lost in the past few months or maybe the uncontrollable enthusiasm of what we were doing.

“Probably all three things, just the fact that I heard it, I saw it fly... I followed her with a glance until I saw her bouncing inside the boat.

“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.

“A few moments that lasted an eternity. But if it was meant to happen, if I'm really going to lose this faith, I couldn't imagine a better place. It will stay forever in the riverbed of the city of love, flown away while I tried to carry the Italian tricolor as high as possible during the opening ceremony of the most important sporting event in the world.

Gianmarco Tamberi waves an Italian flag as the Italian team parades along the Seine river in Paris (AP)

“If I had to invent an apology I would never have been this imaginative. 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 to new.”