An Italian Olympic athlete lost his wedding ring at the opening ceremony. Here's his heartfelt apology to his wife

Gianmarco Tamberi waves an Italian flag as the Italian team parades along the Seine river in Paris, France, during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 26, 2024 (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

An Italian athlete made a public and heartfelt apology to his wife after losing his wedding ring at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony.

Gianmarco Tamberi wrote in a colourfully worded social media post in Italian that he watched it fall into the water during last week's ceremony, which took place along the Seine River.

"I saw it dive into the water as if that was the only place it wanted to be…It will remain forever in the riverbed of the city of love," he said in a post on Instagram that has been translated to English.

According to Tamberi, a high jumper, the ring fell from his finger as he carried Italy's flag. Blaming weight loss ahead of the games or "uncontrollable enthusiasm of what we were doing," he wrote that he saw the ring "fly" through the air, then bounce off the boat he and his teammates were on for the ceremony.

To his wife, he wrote, "If I had to invent an excuse I would never have been this imaginative. I think there could be a huge poetic side behind yesterday's misdeed and if you want we will throw yours into that river too so that they will be together forever."

The athlete referred to the incident as a possible positive omen for returning home with "even bigger gold."

The original Instagram post has been translated for this story.