Gold for Ruth Beitia in high jump: First for Spain in athletics since Barcelona '92
Sunday, August 21, 2016 @ 10:58 PM
HIGH-JUMPER Ruth Beitia has leapt into the history books after netting the gold by clearing 1.97 metres (6'5”), the first Olympic win for Spain since it hosted the games on home territory 24 years ago.
Ruth, the eldest of the 17 finalists at the age of 37, jumped the bar at the same height as Bulgaria's Mirela Demireva and Croatia's Blanka Vlasic, but with fewer faults, meaning the other two took the silver and bronze respectively.
London 2012's gold winner Anna Chicherova was not present, due to the veto on Russian athletes for alleged 'State doping', a scandal that has upset 'clean' athletes from the Federation and provoked the reluctant retirement of world-class javelin-thrower Yelena Isinbáyeva.
Beitia came fourth in London, but the three-times European champion was not content with this and hoped to finish what would be her last-ever Olympics with the top slot.
Her relentless training ahead of Rio 2016 paid off, and she was said to be in 'unbelievable form and fitness' when she arrived ready for her 'last chance'.
As well as winning Spain its first athletics gold since Barcelona '92, Beitia now holds the record as the oldest medallist in high-jump in history.
With victories in Diamond League competitions in Oslo, Stockholm and London, Beitia competed on a fast track – which she feels most comfortable on – in a warm and humid environment that reminded her of her native city, Santander (Cantabria) in summer.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com