Italian athlete Gianmarco Tamberi has apologised to his wife for losing the wedding ring during the Olympics opening ceremony in Seine, Paris on Friday.

“I’m sorry my love, I’m so sorry,” he said in an Instagram post dedicated to his wife, Chiara Bontempi Tamberi. He also shared the photos with his wife and the ring. The pair have been married since September 2022.

Tamberi made headlines at the Tokyo 2020 Games after he shared the high jump gold medal with Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim. Both opted not to go beyond the 2.37m bar they had cleared.

The 32-year-old athlete blamed “losing too many kilos” and “irrepressible enthusiasm” for the mishap.

According to Tamberi, the wedding ring slipped off his finger and fell into the Seine River as he was waving the Italian flag during the ceremony.

“If it had to happen, if I had to lose this ring, I couldn’t imagine a better place,” he said and claimed that the ring would “remain forever in the riverbed of the city of love.”

He described the bad luck as “poetic” and suggested they throw Chiara’s ring in the river too. “[Then] they will be together forever and we will have one more excuse to renew our vows and marry again,” he said.

“Only you could turn this into something romantic,” Chiara wrote under her husband’s apology.