Before Hamish Carr of New Zealand won the Olympic gold medal in the high jump, he jumped low.
Kerr quickly became famous for the moment he escaped an earlier attempt, threw himself under the bar and collapsed to the mat.
It quickly became a meme, with commenters Add a caption“Me coming home from work and sitting on the couch” or “Me jumping into bed.”
“When someone tells me the bar has been raised and they trust me.” ESPN’s Mina Kimes joked..
Meanwhile, Carr beat American Shelby McEwen in the jump-off to win the gold medal, without any harm or foul play.
After both cleared the bar with 2.36 metres, they turned down the chance to share the gold medal, instead deciding to continue with their jumps.
Carr then cleared 2.34 metres but McEwen fell short, giving Carr the silver medal and New Zealand the gold.
It took the pair a combined 11 consecutive misses before Kerr finally made her jump.
“The way I did it was amazing,” Kerr told reporters. “It was crazy.”
Three years ago in Tokyo, Qatar’s Mutaz Barshim and Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi were in the same situation and accepted a draw instead of advancing to the jump-off.
“I have so much respect for what they did in Tokyo, but I always thought it would be so cool to be given the opportunity to add another chapter to that story and actually make the jump off,” Carr said, “and I knew right away we were going to make history, and we did.”
“I’m sure Shelby felt the same way. We just looked at each other and it was really simple. We both just nodded and off we went.”
