9th March 2013 11:16
It is probably unusual for members of the Parliament of Cantabria to bounce up and down in public places shrieking and waving their arms in the air – but for the Parliament's highest profile member, Spanish high jumper Ruth Beitia, such behaviour was entirely excusable in Göteborg as she earned a gold medal at the European Athletics Indoor Championships at the fifth time of asking.
Beitia, who turns 34 next month, found herself as, effectively, a representative of the Rest of Europe as the high jump competition entered its final stages in the Scandinavium Arena. Both the other remaining medal contenders were Swedish, and the sense of excitement and anticipation was palpable from a home crowd that was also responding to the epic efforts of Michel Torneus in the long jump competition proceeding at the same time.
Torneus, despite setting two national records, had to settle for silver as Russia's Aleksandr Menkov kept his nerve and concentration to achieve a leap of 8.31m, two centimetres further than the Swedish athlete could manage.
The story in the high jump proved similar, as Ebba Jungmark and Emma Green-Tregaro had to settle for silver and bronze respectively, unable to match the 1.99m cleared by the woman who, only seven months earlier, had announced her decision to retire. Despite the emotional pressure for a home victory, there was no hint of weakness in Beitia's competitive approach as she moved up to 1.99m, clearing it at the second attempt, and the height then proved – just – too much for the Swedish pair.
The Spanish athlete then had two close attempts at 2.02, which would have been an indoor personal best by 1cm and a 2013 world-leading performance, before bounced with joy on the landing pit, arms wide in triumph, and then racing off to embrace her coach.
Beitia was one of three jumpers over the age of 30 who were contesting the final. Venelina Veneva-Mateeva of Bulgaria, 38, went out after failing at 1.96. And 35-year-old Tia Hellebaut, who became Belgium's first female Olympic champion in 2008, made an unexpectedly early exit having sailed through qualifying.
But there was to be no anti-climax for the third 'veteran' jumper as she supplemented the European outdoor gold she had won in Helsinki the previous year – her first big win since she had entered international competition at the same Championships a decade earlier – with the indoor version. After amassing silver medals from 2005, 2009 and 2011, along with a bronze from 2007, Beitia had finally been able to complete her European indoor medal set.
After the disappointment she suffered at the London 2012 Olympics, where a clearance of 2.00m gained her that most bittersweet of positions, fourth place, in a competition won with an effort of 2.05m by Anna Chicherova of Russia, Beitia announced her retirement. But as she admitted, it didn't last long – only 'a couple of months.'
She confirmed that her deal plan had been to retire after winning a medal in London, although she left the sport anyway for a while, spending some time roller skating for general fitness before the winter made that impractical, at which point she began training again, and found it was going well...
'So I decided to come back,' she said, adding: 'it was perhaps my last chance to get an Olympic medal, but now I look back and see fourth place in London more positively. I thought about leaving athletics – thank goodness I didn't.'
Asked when she would actually retire for good from the sport, she replied with a laugh: 'No. This time I am going to shut up! If not, people will say I am just like the bullfighters, retiring and coming back 20 times...'
Beitia, a Spanish team captain, was proud to have played a big part in her country's showing at the 2013 European Indoors. 'Winning four medals at these Europeans has been a very important result,' she said. 'And the atmosphere here has been great. Ramon Cid director of Spanish Athletics has done a fantastic job.'
Beitia said her next athletics goal now would be to compete in this summer's IAAF World Championships in Moscow. In the meantime, she will be getting on with her duties in Parliament. This Spanish record holder was appointed to the Executive Committee of the Regional People's Party of Cantabria in 2008 by the party's president, and in June 2011 she was sworn in as deputy and was appointed First Secretary of the Parliament of Cantabria.
The old saying that politics and sport should never mix could hardly be less appropriate for Beitia, who is a lifelong resident of Santander in Cantabria. She says the work gives her the same satisfaction as her athletics career, adding that the two jobs for the ideal combination: 'I work in the Parliament in the morning, and in the evening I train. I've got a perfect balance between politics and sport.'
In the aftermath of her latest victory, however, even the Parliament was having to take a back seat.
'Now I want to party!' she exclaimed. Which is rather what it looked like.