Top 5 hilarious memes from Hamish Kerr's high jump win at Paris Olympics 2024 ft. the jump off fail

By Animesh Pandey

Modified Aug 13, 2024 11:45 GMT

Hamish Kerr of New Zealand avoided a repeat of the Tokyo Olympics, where Mutaz Essa Barshim and Gianmarco Tamberi shared the men's high jump gold medal.

At one point it looked like Hamish Kerr and Shelby McEwen would recreate that instance, since both failed to attempt the mark of 2.38m. But the American athlete insisted on a tie-breaker, and ultimately it was Kerr who prevailed with a simple jump of 2.34m in his third attempt.

Amid that, a video of one of his attempts went viral on social media, where the Kiwi was seen attempting a jump before falling on the landing foam, without even lifting his body for a proper jump.

This jump-off fail led to a flurry of memes online, especially on X (formerly Twitter). It all began when X user posted a video of Kerr's attempted jump and captioned it:

"When someone tells me the bar has been raised and they believe in me."

Another user used the video to create their rendition of the meme:

"Government planning the economy."

Another X user hilariously compared the situation to a bedtime routine and captioned it:

"Me after getting to my bed after a long day at work."

Yet another user wrote:

"The Phillies 'trying to get something going' "

Claiming that the video represented how it felt making plans whilst in your thirties, a user hilariously remarked:

"Trying to make plans in your 30s"

Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar, who had won joint gold medal with Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy in the Tokyo Olympics, jumped up to 2.34m to claim the bronze medal in the French capital. He had already announced that this would be his final Olympics campaign.

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Hamish Kerr's performances at the Paris Olympics

Hamish Kerr takes selfies with fans after the finals of the Men's High Jump at the Paris Olympics 2024 [Image Source: Getty]

Hamish Kerr's journey to the gold medal at the Paris Olympics was nothing less than a dream come true.

The Kiwi jumper had qualified for the finals of the men's high jump at the Tokyo Olympics as well but finished a disappointing 10th, with a best attempt of 2.30m. After that, the 27-year-old improved by leaps and bounds. He even won the Commonwealth Games gold medal in 2022 with a jump of 2.25m.

However, he was still not considered among the top contenders for a podium finish, let alone the Olympic gold medal. After almost being knocked out in the qualifications, he somehow cleared the 2.20m mark to give his best of 2.27m, which made him stand overall second in the qualifications.

It was during the finals that the high jumper from New Zealand performed wonders. Shelby McEwen of USA was leading till the fifth mark of 2.34m, until Hamish Kerr got the better of him. McEwen took three attempts to clear 2.34m, while Kerr cleared the height in one jump.

Both cleared 2.36m but failed to clear the height of 2.38m. Once again it was up to the authorities to decide whether to share the gold medal.

Hamish Kerr was not very keen on a tie-breaker, but Shelby McEwen insisted, and the matter went to a jump-off, where Kerr got the better of the American.

Hamish Kerr and Shelby McEwen both attained the height of 2.36m but failed to get beyond the mark of 2.38m. During the first two attempts of the jump-off, neither Kerr nor McEwen could succeed. Finally, in this third attempt, Hamish Kerr jumped to 2.34m to clinch the gold.