Olympics-Athletics-Italy's Tamberi apologises to wife after wedding ring lost in Seine

PARIS (Reuters) - High jumper Gianmarco Tamberi issued a profuse apology to his wife on Saturday after his wedding ring slipped off his finger while he was serving as Italy's flag bearer on a boat in the Seine River during the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics.

"Too much water, too many kilos lost in the last few months or maybe the irrepressible enthusiasm of what we were doing," Tamberi, who won gold at the Tokyo Games, wrote on Instagram in a post directed at his wife, Chiara Bontempi Tamberi.

"Probably all three things, the fact remains that I felt it (my ring) slip away, I saw it fly.... I followed it with my gaze until I saw it bounce inside the boat."

Tamberi said that his wedding ring then bounced into the waters of the Seine in what he described as "a few moments that lasted forever."

"But if it really had to happen, if I really had to lose it, I couldn't imagine a better place," Tamberi added. "It will remain forever in the riverbed of the City of Love."

Tamberi said the mishap would be an excuse to renew vows and get married again, and perhaps serve as an impetus to earn more Olympic hardware.

"May it be a good omen to return home with an even bigger gold!" he wrote.

(Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber; Editing by Pritha Sarkar)