It’s not often that we hear stories of people willing to share the glory. One such instance occurred recently in Budapest Hungary at the 2023 World Athletics Championships when the USA’s Katie Moon who is originally from Olmstead Falls, OH a suburb of Cleveland; and Australia’s Nina Kennedy ended up sharing the Gold Medal in the pole vault competition. The full story as reported on Olympics.com is below along with the video of the two final jumps. A great example of what true sportsmanship is all about. Enjoy!!
World Athletics Championships 2023: Katie Moon and Nina Kennedy
share emotional pole vault gold
By Sean Mcalister
24 August 2023
On a night that flickered with drama and emotion, the USA's Katie Moon (née Nageotte) and Australia's Nina Kennedy shared the pole vault gold medal 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, on Wednesday (23 August).
In a scene reminiscent of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic high jump final, where Qatar's Mutaz Barshim and Italy's Gianmarco Tamberi famously decided to share their gold medal, the two pole vaulters embraced warmly as they agreed against a jump-off in favor of both going home with a world title.
For Moon, this world gold represents the second of her storied track and field career following her victory in Eugene last year. But the reigning Olympic champion will never have won a medal quite like this one.
After an intense competition that saw the bar rise 5cm above last year's winning height of 4.85m both Moon and Kennedy needed to dig as deep as possible to seal this victory. And dig deep they did.
Both flew over the bar on their final attempt at 4.90m and, after falling short on their three attempts at 4.95m, both will leave Budapest as deserved world champions.
For Kennedy, who cried tears of joy as she received the news that she had won gold, the victory means she climbs two steps higher on the podium than she did last year in Eugene.
“I didn’t think she’d want to share it, I thought we might have had to keep jumping,” the elated athlete told reporters after the final. "But, you know, I kind of looked at her and said, ‘Hey, girl, you maybe wanna share this?
"And the relief on her face - and you could see it on my face - and it was mutual. And yeah, absolutely incredible to share a medal with Katie Moon. You know, we’ve been friends for so long so it’s super special.”
Moon will now leave Budapest with a second world title and a memory that will surely last a lifetime.
"I'm at a point where I've just given it my all," she explained about the moment she became the dual recipient of the first joint gold medal in World Championships history. "We went out and we both did pretty much the same thing and it just felt right. We both won today so it was the right call!"
Finland's Wilma Murto, who cleared a season-best height of 4.80m in the final, will complete the podium in Budapest after winning bronze.
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