Italy saluted its “Gods of Olympus” Monday after sprinter Lamont Marcell Jacobs won a shock victory in the Olympic 100 metres and high jumper Gianmarco Tamberi also took gold.
“No one faster, never so high,” read the headline of Il Messaggero daily 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.”
With a European record of 9.80 seconds, the Texas-born 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.