CHATEAUROUX, France, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Adriana Ruano Oliva couldn't hold back her tears when she secured the women's trap gold on Wednesday, the first-ever Olympic gold for her country, Guatemala. She placed her hand on the national flag on her jacket as she heard the Guatemalan national anthem played for the first time at an international competition awards ceremony.
"A lot of emotions right now. I feel like it's a dream. I feel really happy and really grateful for this beautiful moment," she said.
When Ruano Oliva started her career as an athlete, never in her wildest dreams did she imagine she would be standing atop the Olympic podium, much less as a shooter.
"My dream was to be at the Olympics in gymnastics," revealed Ruano Oliva, who had trained and competed as a gymnast for 10 years before a spinal injury in 2011.
"When I was 16 years old, I was preparing for a world championship in Tokyo, which would be a qualifier for the London 2012 Olympic Games. About 20 days before the championship, I started to feel a pain in my back which I thought was muscular. After an MRI and a CT scan, I was diagnosed with a spinal injury that ended my gymnastics career immediately.
"I had six damaged vertebrae, worn-out crushed discs, microfractures, scoliosis and hyper-lordosis. I spent a year in therapy, wearing a brace to keep me immobilized," she said.
After recovery, her doctor told her that shooting was her only choice if she wished to continue as an athlete, and a friend of her brother introduced her to shotgun shooting.
It took her four years to make it to Rio 2016, but not to compete.
"I said to myself, 'If I can't be there as an athlete, maybe I can be there as a volunteer', so I applied. They put me in shooting, and I was able to watch my teammates. I could see the competition, and that was the moment that inspired me to think, 'OK, maybe if not in gymnastics, I can do it in shooting'," she recalled.
Shooting is not a popular sport in Guatemala. There is only one range in the central American country for Ruano Oliva and her teammates to train at, and ammunition limits prevented them from shooting as much as they wanted, except in preparation for major events. Despite the difficult conditions, Ruano Oliva worked hard and improved quickly to qualify for Tokyo 2020, but then tragedy struck.
"My father passed away one month before the Tokyo Olympics. It was a really difficult moment. But I had the support of my family, my coach, and my psychologist. We did the best we could at that moment. In the end, I finished last in Tokyo. I felt like I was not honoring my father," she reminisced.
Here in Chateauroux, she secured the gold medal before the final series when she was six hits ahead of Silvana Maria Stanco of Italy with only five targets left. Finally, she could say proudly, "This medal is dedicated to my father."
When asked about her thoughts on being a role model in Guatemala and what comes next, she responded, "Right now I have a mixture of emotions. I don't think I have realized yet what this means. I know it means a lot for my country. It is the first gold for Guatemala, so it is very important."
"But sport has been my life and I will continue. I am really very happy with this achievement and to be able to represent Guatemalan women."
