Who is Adriana Ruano? Guatemala’s first Olympic gold medal in Paris 2024
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games gave Guatemala the first Olympic gold in its history, thanks to Adriana Ruano’s victory in the Olympic trap shooting event this Wednesday in Châteauroux (central France). It is the second medal for the Guatemalan delegation in this event and the second in shooting, after Jean Pierre Brol’s bronze on Tuesday in the men’s Olympic trap category. Before Paris 2024, the only medal for the Central American country in the Olympic Games was the silver of race walker Erick Barrondo in the 20 kilometers of the London 2012 edition.
Adriana Ruano, 29, also broke the Olympic record in a final by finishing with 45 hits in 50 attempts. She took the lead from the start, being the only one to make a clean sweep in the first round of five throws, and from then on, she did not relinquish the top spot in the final. She remained serious and focused throughout, wearing her blue ear protectors, and only at the end of her participation did she allow herself to show her emotions, breaking into tears of emotion. The silver medal went to the Italian Silvana Maria Stanco, with 40 points, and the bronze went to the Australian Penny Smith, with 32.
Alejandra Ruano makes history for Guatemala.
Ruano, the Pan American champion last year, started out as one of the event’s favorites in her second participation in the Olympic Games after Tokyo 2021. Hours after her historic victory for Guatemala at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the Guatemalan Olympic Committee shared the first statements of Olympic champion Adriana Ruano on social networks. “There are a lot of emotions right now. I want to thank all of Guatemala, my entire family, my entire multidisciplinary team… who have trusted me from the day I met them, and I think that has been key in this process,” the young athlete began.
Who is Adriana Ruano?
Adriana Ruano is a 29-year-old Guatemalan athlete who, before becoming a Latin American shooting star, had other plans for herself. Her first Olympic dream had been in gymnastics, but a spinal injury prevented her from attending the London 2012 Games when she was a teenager. Shooting then appeared, a sport she took up thanks to the doctor who was in charge of her treatment and her brother’s best friend, as a ‘plan B’ to stay connected to the sport without putting her back at risk. At the Rio 2016 Games, she was able to live the Olympic experience as a volunteer at the shooting center, as a prelude to her participation as a member of the Guatemalan delegation in the following two events. A process that now culminates in her historic gold.
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