‘Can we have two golds?’ The virtuous potentiality of deliberate medal sharing

In the 2021 Olympics, high jumpers Barshim and Tamberi and in the 2023 World Athletics Championships pole vaulters Moon and Kennedy refused tiebreak procedures (the jump-off) after clearing the same height. The athletes thus shared gold medals. Deliberate jump-off refusals can challenge the conventional Olympic motto (faster, higher, stronger), highlight the significance of ties as meaningful resolutions without privileging participation over victory, and foreground mutualism over self-distinguishing gain. By agreeing to stop together, athletes redefine sporting excellence as shared and as divorced from more-than-human performance; they also reject the imposition to prioritize fan entertainment. Moreover, the acknowledgement of mutual limits underscores a consideration of measure and ultimately of virtue as moderation.