Gianmarco Tamberi

At the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy and Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar were tied after a long high jump final. An official offered them a jump-off. Barshim asked, "Can we have two golds?" When the official said yes, Tamberi leapt into his friend's arms, then collapsed on the track in tears. It became one of the most memorable images of the Games, and for Tamberi it was the end of a long road back from injury.

He was born on June 1, 1992, in Civitanova Marche, on Italy's Adriatic coast, at 4:55 in the morning, the hour given on his birth certificate. His Ascendant falls on the final degree of Taurus, so his rising sign is too close to call, but his first house is crowded. The Sun, Moon, Mercury and Venus are all in Gemini, all in the first house. Gemini is the sign of air, lightness and quickness, and it is hard to find a more literal match for an athlete whose sport is flying over a bar. With so much Gemini in the first house, his personality is on display: playful, talkative and theatrical. Tamberi became famous for his half-shaved beard, his showmanship and his habit of performing for the crowd before each jump.

His father, Marco Tamberi, was a high jumper who competed at the 1980 Olympics, and later became his son's coach. Gianmarco played basketball as a boy before following his father into the high jump.

Mars in Aries sits in his twelfth house, which traditional astrology links with hidden setbacks, hospitals and struggles faced away from the public eye. In July 2016, weeks before the Rio Olympics and in the best form of his life, he badly injured his ankle at a meet in Monaco and missed the Games. He wrote "Road to Tokyo 2020" on his cast and later brought the cast to Tokyo, setting it beside the track during the final.

Saturn, retrograde in Aquarius, falls in his tenth house of career, describing achievements that require long, disciplined effort. After the shared gold in Tokyo, he won the world championship in Budapest in 2023 and European titles, completing his collection of major medals.

Jupiter in Virgo lies in the fifth house of joy and play, and Tamberi's love of performance has made him one of the most charismatic figures in athletics. He married Chiara Bontempi in 2022.

At the 2024 Paris Olympics he carried Italy's flag at the opening ceremony and accidentally lost his wedding ring in the Seine. Days before the high jump final he was hospitalized with kidney stones, but he competed anyway and finished well down the field. The Gemini planets in his first house made him the most theatrical jumper in the sport; the Mars in the twelfth made sure his path was never easy.