“No one faster, never so high,” read the headline of Italian newspaper Il Messaggero on Monday, under the beaming faces of Jacobs and Tamberi.
All of Italy’s newspapers celebrated the historic victories, with La Stampa citing “The Gods of Olympus.”
Tokyo 2020: The Italian athletes to watch at the Olympics
With a European record of 9.80 seconds, the Texas-born and Italian-raised Jacobs – a relative unknown who had never broken 10 seconds before this year – followed in the swift footsteps of retired Usain Bolt as champion of the blue riband event of the Olympic athletics programme on Sunday.
The victories were hailed by Italian national volleyball team coach Mauro Berruto as “the most extraordinary 20 minutes in the history of Italian sport”.
I venti minuti più straordinari della storia dello sport italiano. #Tokyo2020 #ItaliaTeam #athletics #italia #sport #GiochiOlimpici pic.twitter.com/cyTyzZJhVY
— Mauro Berruto (@mauroberruto) August 1, 2021
Tamberi clinched a rare shared gold with Qatari high jumper Mutaz Essa Barshim, after both recorded a best clearance of 2.37 metres.
After Jacobs’ win, the two Italians shared a joyous bear hug, an image played repeatedly on television on Monday.
The dual victories cap a triumphant summer for Italy, fresh from its European Championship football title last month.
GRANDE ITALIA!
✅ Eurovision 🎤
✅ EURO 2020 🏆
✅ 100m Olympic Gold 🥇#Tokyo2020 #TokyoOlympics pic.twitter.com/CmdhO2OSXc— Adriano Del Monte (@adriandelmonte) August 1, 2021
The victory for the Azzurri over England was celebrated as a boost for the country after it was among those hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
Italy coach Roberto Mancini applauded the Olympic winners Sunday, writing on Twitter that “You are the history. All the medals of these Olympic Games are fantastic. Go Italy.”
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After Italy also won the Eurovision song contest earlier this year, the competition’s official Twitter account joked that the country now “wins everything”.
Do Italy just win everything? Is that what they do now? 🇮🇹🏆🥇
— Eurovision Song Contest (@Eurovision) August 1, 2021
La storia siete voi. Fantastiche tutte le medaglie di questi #GiochiOlimpici
Forza #ItaliaTeam#Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/0FK2PPvRKs— Roberto Mancini (@robymancio) August 1, 2021
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