Why would McEwen and Kerr not choose to share the gold?

I thought it was a stupid decision but I'm not surprised they did it. The initial reaction to Tokyo was positive. Later the same two said they wouldn't do it the next time.

Last year there was a shared women's pole vault gold at world championships.

At that point I became convinced that the next time it happens among two guys they'll have some stupid peer pressure mode to keep going. That's exactly what happened today.

Women aren't as fragile minded. They evaluate all variables logically and continue to share.

During the Olympic pole vault broadcast, they mentioned that Nina Kennedy, who agreed to share the pole vault world championship with Katie Moon last year, would not be making that same decision in Paris if they were in the same situation again. Here’s an article on it:

amp.abc.net.au

Nina Kennedy eyes Paris Olympics pole vault gold, and she won't be sharing it with anyone - ABC News

Nina Kennedy made international headlines when she and Katie Moon shared the pole vault gold at the 2023 World Championships. Do not expect her to be quite so generous in Paris.

Open link

abc net au/news/2024-08-04/nina-kennedy-is-ready-to-stand-alone-and-vault-above-paris/104180382

Those who want a tie go home devastated -- Wait, you “go for the tie” people already ARE home. Maybe that’s the reason you’re home.

You can't 'share' a win. It's the same reason I refuse to watch soccer. Loser mentality to 'share'. Both those guys jumped out of their gourds today- neither wanted to roll over

Yeah?

Maybe that’s why I wore the red, white and blue in a world championship.

How about you?

Because a gold medal only has symbolic value - in that it represents 'you are the best in the world' at your event.

If you can't say that - because you failed to beat every other guy - then the medal might as well be silver.

I imagine you would split the prize pot of first and second.

World Athletics isn't going to chip in extra cash because two guys are too scared to compete.

I’m sure he will come to regret that decision for the rest of his life.

This. A good argument against the jump-off is that it's just kind of lame. You have 2 (or more) athletes tied, but they are also probably worn out from the competition. So you say, let's settle this by seeing who can still jump a few centimeters LESS than you already jumped.

Just doesn't seem like an aesthetically pleasing way of determining a "winner". A tie isn't the worst thing that ever happened.

Ummm....ever heard of....oh, never mind...

30 years from now when you are showing your grandkids your Olympic Gold Medal, I bet they don't even ask if you had to share it with anyone.

They’ll question you after reading about it on Wikipedia

as a kiwi im glad you dumb fat lazy smelly americants are seething, balding, and coping. better luck in 28. Bro.

Yet in the tournaments, there's always a winner in soccer.

Gen z probz.

Simple pride. He wants to say he’s the best. That he’s the winner. Who wants a tie? That was always looked as worse than losing. Plus there’s 50k on the table to the winner. So why split anything if you’re confident.

Because it's an actual competition, not an exhibition. Noah and Thompson or US and Great Britain and couldn't ask for them to only measure to a certain decimal point and have a tie. Why should the jumpers have the option for a tie?

Good for them for not tying. First of all as others have said jumpoff should not be optional. If high schoolers can do jumpoff I feel like Olympians can prob handle it.

Also jumpoffs can be super dramatic. We had a girl win states in a jumpoff that went up and down 3 or 4 times as they matched makes and misses at various heights. We had another girl have a jumpoff at an indoor invitational that was legit almost ridiculously long it was like 8-10 extra jumps of makes and misses they were both like when is this going to end but then you obv get more determined to win.

If that happens in the Olympic final you would remember watching it for the rest of your life.