Gianmarco Tamberi reiterates: ‘I was provoked’

Gianmarco Tamberi chimes in.

Through a social message, Gianmarco Tamberi wanted to explain what happened on Sunday during the Italian Athletics Championships in Rieti. The Civitanova Marche ace, at the end of the event, did not shake hands with Marco Fassinotti.

“In the first place I definitely want to apologize for my gesture because in some way it is still wrong. It is wrong to react to provocations so I in a moment of maximum tension during a race, I reacted to a provocation and I was definitely wrong. So I apologize to everyone present and to everyone who watched the race on live television. I was provoked and I fell into the provocation.”

“It has happened before several times. I have found myself in races where before I jumped he would say, ‘you can’t do it anyway,’ or I remember very well in 2013 when he said, ‘you thought you were going to beat me.’ And it’s not so easy to finish a race, when I had come so close to beating him that he was almost an example for me to follow because he was older and I was a kid. There were so many dynamics, however I am here simply to make this video and apologize to everyone who saw in my gesture something unsportsmanlike.”