MADRID, 11 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE), Alejandro Blanco, praised the former athlete Ruth Beitia, whom he said is not “just a star” but is “a legend of Spanish sport” and defined her as “a true privileged” for his record, after giving him the bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics.
“You are a chosen one. You are not just a star, which you are, but you are a legend of Spanish sport. Those values make your figure get bigger every day,” Blanco said about the Cantabrian, after awarding him that bronze in 2012 ten years later after the disqualification for doping of the Russian Svetlana Shkolina.
For Blanco, the athlete is among the people who “make history” and that deserves the world to “recognize, applaud and love” Ruth Beitia. “With all the rivals you’ve had, they’ve always said that if they don’t win, they want Ruth to win, and I can attest to that,” she said.
Blanco highlighted the “great work” being done by the Royal Spanish Athletics Federation (RFEA), something that was personified in the successes of Ruth Beitia. Regarding the jumper, he explained that she now has “a second stage” in which she has to be “the authentic narrator” of her “own story”.
Alejandro Blanco defined the Cantabrian as “a great example of clean sport” and praised the values it conveys. “The legends never end and we have to make the name of Ruth Beitia known to the next generations,” he concluded.