High jump superstar Gianmarco Tamberi takes a deep look on Italian TV and talks about his difficult relationship with his father. He also reveals that his passion actually belongs to another sport.
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- Gianmarco Tamberi is world champion, European champion and Olympic champion in the high jump. He holds the Italian outdoor record at 2.39 meters.
- In the TV program "Belve" on "Rai2", the 32-year-old talks about his very difficult relationship with his father, who was also his coach.
- "The biggest failure of my life," he confessed.
- The 32-year-old also said that he doesn't like what he does and that he would be happier if he could play basketball.
Gianmarco Tamberi is the most successful Italian high jumper of all time: three-time European champion (2016, 2022, 2024), Olympic champion in Tokyo 2020 and world champion in Budapest 2023. With his 2.39 m in Munich 2016, he set the twelfth-best performance of all time.
Tamberi, famous for his half beard, is the big superstar of the high jump scene. In a TV interview on the program "Belve" on the Italian channel "Rai2", the Italian also reveals things about his private life.
The very difficult relationship with his father
The 32-year-old talks about his difficult relationship with his father and admits: "Not having a relationship with my father is the biggest mistake of my life." The differences "were so numerous and that is the reason why the relationship deteriorated so much that it became complicated to fix it," says Tamberi.
His father Marco, a former successful high jumper himself, was Gianmarco's coach for years and made a significant contribution to his son's sporting development. However, the relationship deteriorated over the years and in 2022 Tamberi decided to change coach and entrust himself to Giulio Ciotti.
The rules imposed by his father were "tough", says Gianmarco. "It's one thing to impose them and another thing to decide. My father is someone who chooses for you. A parent has to help you choose the right path, but he can't force you to choose that path. At that moment, I felt very betrayed by the parental figure."
"I don't love what I do"
The 32-year-old also recalls the "worst moment" at the last Olympic Games in Paris when, weakened by kidney stones, he didn't make it past 11th place.
Then another bitter confession: "I didn't like high jumping and I still like basketball much better: if I had still been playing, I would have been less proud but happier."
High jump was never his great passion, but he seems to have known that he could be successful in this sport. Tamberi: "I had to make this decision, but I don't love what I do."
