Ruth Beitia receives the London 2012 bronze at the COE
Ruth Beita kisses her bronze metal achieved almost ten years ago. /
Athletics
Almost ten years later, the Cantabrian jumper finally wears the medal achieved after the doping suspension of the Russian Shkolina
The bronze medal of the 2012 London Olympics is already on Ruth Beitia's chest. Nine years and eleven months later, and more than 1,700 kilometers from London, the Cantabrian athlete has received the medal won in the high jump at the Spanish Olympic Committee during the Olympic event held in the British capital.
Before the attentive gaze of all the attendees in the Goyeneche Auditorium, the president of the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE), Alejandro Blanco, has been in charge of hanging the bronze reassigned by the International Olympic Committee around his neck once the Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS) confirmed the suspension of Russian Svetlana Shkolina for doping.
A bronze that adds to the gold achieved in Rio 2016 and that reaffirms Ruth Beitia's status as the most successful Spanish athlete of all time with two Olympic metals.
After listening to the Olympic anthem with the entire auditorium standing, the president of the COE declared that «there are two kinds of people: Those who write history and those who contemplate it, and you make your history. Your story must be known, valued, relived and spread.
“You are not just a sports star, as a person you have values that enhance your figure. Some values that are in your DNA, in your origins, your family and your coach. There is no expression of yours in which all your surroundings do not appear", added Alejandro Blanco before concluding saying that "you were and are an athlete with projects and illusions. Nothing can stop you when you set your goals. You are a chosen one, Ruth. You are not just a champion, you are a legend of Spanish sport.
For her part, Beitia, after concluding the event, acknowledged to the media that “today is the day of truth. Ten years later the truth has come and we should have had this medal in London, standing on the podium and watching the flag wave. This medal is the result of work and a dream that was born in Barcelona 1992».
«This is something that was earned at the time, but it is not so much what I have earned but how I have earned it with work and honesty. The wait has been very long, but it has been worth it. I want to thank the COE for such a wonderful day, for giving me the opportunity to pick it up at the house of Spanish Olympics and, especially, its president Alejandro Blanco for everything he has fought for since the first resolution", he added.
«Ramón took me when I was eleven years old to make me fulfill my dreams. They have been 50% shared dreams and are the result of 27 years of work, of a path in which we have fallen many times, but we have known how to reinvent ourselves and remain motivated to compete with the same smile as always. I would not change a point or a comma », he concluded.
Present at the event were the president of the Spanish Athletics Federation, Raúl Chapado, who presented Ruth Beitia with the International Olympic Committee accreditation diploma; the mayor of Santander, Gema Igual; the Councilor for Sports of the Madrid City Council, Sofía Miranda; in addition to his coach Ramón Torralbo, his closest family and friends.
