Ruth Beitia: “I couldn’t pass up the chance to run in Barcelona that Allianz Jean Bouin gave me”

When did you decide to compete in the 101st edition of the Allianz Jean Bouin?

Since I discovered running, I am keen to see different cities from their epicenter, running without traffic, seeing all the emblematic buildings and in the case of Barcelona all the modernist buildings of a city like of Barcelona I like, and Allianz Jean Bouin is a good possibility to see one of my favorite cities, Barcelona. I started with the Valencia half marathon, then the Malaga half marathon and I’ve also done different races in Madrid and I didn’t miss going to Barcelona.

And what time did you say you wanted to be a runner?

It’s a crazy proposition to go aerobic from completely anaerobic and it’s with the help of Hyundai, with Go Fit I’m already doing a lot of activity, but putting on some shoes and running, which gives me a chance to get back. tracks. motivating, captain of a team, Hyundai Go Fit, of which I am the smallest running but the one who puts more enthusiasm and desire into it, is in the hands of Hyundai.

How did you feel the first time you ran?

Nervous at the starting gun and then it seems like the first jump, the one with charcoal, then enjoying it, really enjoying it. There is suffering, but it is a ‘pleasant’ suffering.

Did we miss another great Ruth Beitia runner?

Well, when I was younger I won every cross country event I ran, and I noticed that when I turned 11 I started placing second, third and sometimes first and that’s when my coach told me that it was time for me to move on. on the track, but I remember Honey, that long-distance runner stage was my start.

How far do you usually run?

At Allianz Jean Bouin I will do the 10K, and I usually run in tights.

Is a 5K too short for you?

I chose the 10K because it starts and ends in the same place, and that’s also a plus because I get to see more of the city.

And the next step?

I will improve my time and I guarantee I will improve my 10K time, easily, because it is 1h03′. For me, anything that involves reaching a goal while enjoying it improves my score.

How is it prepared?

This year life gave me a little setback, my mother left a month and a half ago and it kept me a little bit, but I know that she wants me to do everything that makes me happy and it makes me happy, and then through the conflict I started to take it with enthusiasm and for several weeks I have been training properly and with enthusiasm. The truth is that the back factor, career, being with people… I really enjoy it and I like that. Training can be boring because I’m alone many days, but during the race everyone’s spirit is incredible.

For an elite athlete like you, is it important to find a stimulus after leaving top-level sport?

Motivation is important and, above all, because if you are not motivated, with desire, it is clearly useless. I remember that my father, who was the first Olympian in the family and came from Barcelona as an athletics judge, I told him that I wanted to fulfill the dream of being in the Olympic Games and he told me that I had to meet three main things . requirements: and one of them is to enjoy, because otherwise, there is no point. He told me that it will be very difficult, that there will be many training sessions that will not work, but if I want to achieve my goals, I have to have a lot of fun, and, look, I have been to four Olympics Games and two medals, what more can I ask?

Is the new Ruth Beitia happy?

Ruth is always happy, this smile always supports her, even if sometimes life sets traps that erase it, but I enjoy what I do and I continue to wake up in the morning with the desire to work for athletics.

You teach athletics classes, want to send your knowledge?

A lot, because I think I do it differently, when you experience it from the inside, when you know what you don’t want them to do to you and I was lucky to have a coach for 27 years who has been a coach –Ramón Torralbo–, friend, partner, I won’t say father because I have a father, but almost a second father and an older brother, of which I have several, who helped me a lot and that’s what they should do with those child.

Exactly, the 101st Allianz Jean Bouin consists of 10 school courses with almost 2,000 children.

Give those kids a chance to see from the inside what a competition is, not a competition, because they have to see it as an experience, not if they win, because they have to enjoy it, live the experience, meet the man, look at the City’s run is incredible.

From a distance, how do you see the reality of high jumping?

On an international level, it is great, because the world record was broken – the Ukrainian Mahuchikh jumped 2.10 m and broke the mark that lasted 37 years – but I hope that in Spain there will be a boy or girl who will surpass in the Spanish records, who are there at 2.34 (Arturo Ortiz) and 2.02 (yours). I defended them wholeheartedly, with great respect and honor while I was active, but I wanted to wipe them off the map. My story is there, but I want another name to come out and for us to once again have a world-class competitive jumper.

And when you look back, what evaluation do you make of your career?

Well, a dream come true. The problem with a high jumper is that you always leave with three nulls and you always lose, and you always want more, that’s what it’s all about. I want to beat the world record every time, like Duplantis.

Your best score is 2.02 outdoors and 2.01 indoors, can you jump more?

My best jump was actually a null, one of those silly nulls that I jumped a lot and threw with my foot. Or valid ones you have a lot to spare, but the good thing about the high jump is that it’s a technical, tactical and psychological test, where you go up against the bar. What we have achieved, I always speak in the plural, with my coach, for me it is not so much how we achieved it, which has always been based on work, exemplary behavior. I keep the gold medal (Rio 2016), but also the world-class fair play they gave me in the last competition, which I think also says a lot about what the sport taught me as a person.

And with the high participation of students, the female presence at Allianz Jean Bouin does not stop.

Look, Carmen Valero was lost last year and she was the true pioneer, the true champion who paved the way for the rest of us. Today it is easy to be a girl and play sports, but not in those times. Every time we talk about it, we have to look back and think of the pioneers who fought the giants so that we can say how high the participation of women is and say it with all normality and silence in the world.