Tokyo Olympics dream over for Tom Gale - but his family are nothing but proud

Gale, who at 22 was the second youngest jumper in the 13-strong field, finished 11th in the final after clearing 2.27m, just one centimetre lower than his season’s best set in the qualifying round.

“This was Tom’s first major senior championships so for that to be the Olympics and to finish 11th in the final was not a bad start for him,” said proud dad Mark.

“Before he went out to Tokyo Tom said he would be content to get into the final.

“Obviously he would have liked to have done better in the final but he was still carrying a bit of an injury. But no excuses, these things happen as we saw with Dina Asher-Smith and Adam Gemili.”

It has been reported on these pages before that Gale had knee surgery last summer and has been undergoing extensive re-hab ever since then. Even after the qualifying Gale reported a sore knee and only revealed afterwards that he also had an issue with his ankle.

Nonetheless, Gale cleared 2.19m, 2.24m and 2.27m at the first attempt before failing at all his three attempts at 2.30m, just three centimetres off his lifetime best of 2.33m set indoors in February 2020.

But while Gale bowed out, he stayed on the track to watch one of the greatest Olympic finals ever as the flamboyant Italian Gianmarco Tamberi and Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar shared the gold medal on 2.37m – sparking wild celebrations from both men.

“There is a very friendly atmosphere among the high jumpers and they all get on well together,” added Mark.

“It is like bumping into old friends when they get together for a competition.”

Gale will certainly be bumping into these guys a lot more over the next few years leading up to the 2024 Olympics in Paris, and Gale’s appetite for more of this top class international action has been well and truly whetted.

“Tom really enjoyed Tokyo, had a lot of fun and it was a great experience,” said Mark.

“And now he wants to replicate that in Paris in three years’ time.”