Am sorry: Olympic champion apologises to wife after losing wedding ring in River Seine during opening ceremony

Olympic star Gianmarco Tamberi has made a heartfelt apology to his wife after losing his wedding ring in the River Seine at the opening ceremony of the Paris Games.

The 32-year-old world champion was one of two flagbearers for Italy when his ring slipped off his finger into the water as his boat travelled down the Seine during the ceremony.

‘I’m sorry my love,’ Tamberi wrote to his wife Chiara on Instagram.

‘Too much water, too many kilograms lost in the past few months or maybe the uncontrollable enthusiasm of what we were doing. Probably all three things.’

Tamberi said he watched as the ring bounced onto the boat and then disappeared.

A glimmer of hope … but unfortunately the bounce was in the wrong direction and floating more than a thousand times in the air,’ Tamberi wrote.

‘I saw her dive into the water like that was the only place she wanted to be. A few moments that lasted an eternity.’

Tamberi tried to make the best of a bad situation, saying he ‘couldn’t imagine a better place’ to lose his ring

It will stay forever in the riverbed of the city of love, flown away while I tried to carry the Italian tricolor (flag) as high as possible during the opening ceremony of the most important sporting event in the world,’ he said.

If I had to invent an excuse I would never have been this imaginative.

‘I think there might be a huge poetic side to yesterday’s misdeed, and if you want, we’ll throw yours into that river, too, so they’ll be together forever, and we’ll have one more excuse to, like you’ve always asked, renew our vows and get married again.

‘I love you my love.
‘May it be auspicious to come home with even bigger gold!!!!

Chiara commented on her husband’s post: ‘Only you could turn this into something romantic.’

The happy couple have been married since September 2022.