Beyond sport moments bring people together
On the biggest stage of all, friendship and rivalry combined for a beyond-sport moment at Tokyo 2020, when Italy's Gianmarco Tamberi and Qatar's Mutaz Essa Barshim agreed to share a joint high jump Olympic gold medal after achieving the same mark, the friends, joyously leaping around, thrilled to achieve the peak of their athletics lives together.
Another pair of high jumpers, this time in the women's event, look to be shaping up nicely as a friendly rivalry throughout the 2025 season and beyond, to LA28.
Speaking to Olympics.com at the Diamond League in June, after the Olympic gold and silver medallists from Paris 2024 – Yaroslava Mahuchikh and Nicola Olyslagers, respectively – had duelled for top honours yet again, the pair had this to say of the camaraderie within the athletics community and each other.
"Today Nicola was better than me," said Mahuchikh, the 2023 world champion in the event, who is looking to defend her title at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo in September. "We all get on well and help one another along. We never know who will win on the day, but it is always fun."
“I enjoy jumping with Yaroslava as I know that when she jumps high, I jump high," said Australian Olyslagers, a two-time Olympic silver medallist. "I remember watching her jumping 2.10 in Paris and I remember we were all hugging and crying, because we saw it’s possible. For almost 40 years, we have been walking around just trying to get 2.10, and she did it."
Appreciation of other athletes' performances, and the extraordinarily hard work it's taken to get there, is one thing, but when personal circumstances take a difficult turn, that's when the sporting community really steps up.
Japan's Ikee Rikako spoke to Olympics.com in May 2025, about the "deep respect" she has for her fellow swimmers, in the pool, and beyond.
"There are so many qualities they have that I don’t - not just as swimmers, but as human beings," said Ikee. "We all may seem the same, but each of us is different. At the same time, seeing what they’re capable of makes me feel like maybe I can do it too. Of course, losing is frustrating, but when someone does well, I genuinely want to celebrate them. I feel a strong urge to be the first one to say 'congratulations'.
"Competitive swimming is incredibly tough — the training, the races, everything. So there’s a strong bond that comes from going through it all together. There are people I’ve met through swimming that I never would have encountered otherwise."
When Ikee was diagnosed with leukemia in 2019, fellow athletes posted photos and messages for her from the world championships in which she was scheduled to compete.
Ikee has never forgotten this kindness, paying it forward by doing the same when a fellow swimmer got injured.
And so, we leave the final words to the outgoing President of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, who relinquishes the role today to Kirsty Coventry, following a 12-year tenure.
Speaking to young athletes at the Games of the Small States of Europe during the opening ceremony in Andorra last month, Bach said: “Always compete in the spirit of friendship, respect and fair play — because being a true champion is about so much more than winning. You show us what it means to live the Olympic values. You show us that sport always builds bridges — sport never erects walls.”
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