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Olympic star Gianmarco Tamberi has sincerely apologized to his wife after losing her wedding ring in the River Seine during the opening ceremony of the Paris Games.
The 32-year-old world champion was one of two flag bearers for Italy when his ring slipped from his finger into the water as his boat sailed down the Seine during the ceremony.
“I’m sorry my love,” Tamberi wrote to his wife Chiara on Instagram.
‘Too much water, too many kilos lost in the last few months or perhaps the uncontrollable enthusiasm for what we were doing. Probably all three things at once.’
Tamberi said he saw the ring bounce off the ship and then disappear.
“A ray of hope… but unfortunately the bounce went in the wrong direction and floated more than a thousand times in the air,” Tamberi wrote.
“I watched her dive into the water like that was the only place she wanted to be. It was a moment that lasted an eternity.”
Tamberi tried to make the best of a bad situation, saying he “couldn’t imagine a better place” to lose his ring.
Gianmarco Tamberi apologized to his wife after losing his wedding ring in the River Seine during the opening ceremony of the Paris Games
The high jumper was waving an Italian flag when the ring slipped off his finger.
“He will remain forever in the riverbed of the city of love, having flown while trying to carry the Italian tricolour as high as possible during the opening ceremony of the most important sporting event in the world,” he said.
“If I had to make up an excuse, I would never have been so imaginative.
‘I think there may be a great poetic side to yesterday’s misdeed, and if you want, we will throw yours into that river too, so that you can be together forever, and we will have one more excuse to, as you have always asked, renew our vows and get married again.
‘I love you my love.
‘May it be a good omen to return home with even bigger gold!!!’
Tamberi described the moment as “moments that lasted forever.”
Chiara commented on her husband’s post: ‘Only you could turn this into something romantic.’
The happy couple has been married since September 2022.