Ruth Beitia

Ruth Beitia
Ruth Beitia
Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of Cantabria
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 7 January 2019
Preceded by	María José Sáenz de Buruaga
Member of the Parliament of Cantabria
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 2011
Personal details
Born	Ruth Beitia Vila; 1 April 1979 (age 45); Santander, Cantabria, Spain
Political party	People's Party of Cantabria
Occupation	Athlete, physical education teacher

Ruth Beitia
Personal information
Full name	Ruth Beitia Vila
Nationality	Spanish
Born	1 April 1979 (age 45); Santander, Spain
Height	1.92 m (6 ft 3+1⁄2 in)
Weight	71 kg (157 lb)
Sport
Country	Spain
Sport	Athletics
Event	High jump
Club	Atletismo Piélagos
Achievements and titles
Personal best	High jump: 2.02 m (2007);
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing Spain
Olympic Games
World Championships
World Indoor Championships
European Championships
European Indoor Championships
Mediterranean Games

Ruth Beitia Vila (Spanish pronunciation: [rut ˈβejtja]; born 1 April 1979) is a retired high jumper who was the 2016 Olympic champion in the women's high jump. She was also a politician in the Partido Popular and a member of the Parliament of Cantabria.

Biography

Beitia first broke the Spanish record in 1998, jumping 1.89 m. She raised the record progressively up to 2.02 m, the current Spanish record, which she achieved on 4 August 2007. She is the first, and thus far, only Spanish woman to have jumped higher than two metres.

Beitia's first senior international appearance was at the 2002 European Athletics Championships in Munich, where she finished 11th. At the 2003 World Championships in Paris, she also finished 11th. At the 2004 Athens Olympics she failed to reach the finals. In 2005, she won the silver medal at the 2005 European Indoor Championships in Madrid but at the world championships at Helsinki 2005 she failed to reach the finals. In 2006, she won the bronze medal at the World Indoor Athletics Championships in Moscow.

In 2009, she won the silver medal at the 2009 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Turin. At the 2009 World Championships in Athletics in Berlin, she placed fifth (fourth after competitor disqualification). In 2012, she won the gold medal at the European Championships in Helsinki and at the 2012 London Olympics she was fourth, after which she retired from competition.^[1]

After a few months, disappointed by her failure to win an Olympic medal, Beitia came back from retirement. She won the gold medal at the 2013 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Gothenburg. Then she would become European champion twice more, in 2014 at Zürich and in 2016 at Amsterdam. Finally, she won gold at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, with a height of 1.97m. This was the lowest winning height at the Olympics since the 1980 Summer Olympic Games, when Italian Sara Simeoni also cleared 1.97m.

Beitia ended in 12th place in the 2017 World Championships in Athletics and received the IAAF Fair Play Award for her behaviour during the competition.^[2]

She announced her retirement from competition in October 2017, following a rheumatoid arthritis process.^[3]

In 2021, two years after the original bronze medalist Svetlana Shkolina of the 2012 Olympics from Russia had been disqualified for failing in doping test, Beitia was reallocated as the bronze medalist of that event.^[4]

Olympic results

Olympic Games	Discipline	Place
2004 Athens	High jump	16
2008 Beijing	High jump	4
2012 London	High jump	3
2016 Rio de Janeiro	High jump	1

Achievements

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Notes
Representing Spain
1995	European Youth Olympic Days	Bath, United Kingdom	5th	1.80 m
1996	World Junior Championships	Sydney, Australia	16th (q)	1.79 m
1997	Mediterranean Games	Bari, Italy	9th	1.70 m
1997	European Junior Championships	Ljubljana, Slovenia	9th	1.82 m
1998	World Junior Championships	Annecy, France	8th	1.80 m
1999	European U23 Championships	Gothenburg, Sweden	11th	1.82 m
2000	Ibero-American Championships	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	4th	1.81 m
2001	World Indoor Championships	Lisbon, Portugal	7th	1.93 m
	European U23 Championships	Amsterdam, Netherlands	1st	1.87 m
	Mediterranean Games	Radès, Tunisia	4th	1.83 m
2002	European Championships	Munich, Germany	11th	1.85 m
2003	World Indoor Championships	Birmingham, United Kingdom	5th	1.96 m
2003	World Championships	Paris, France	11th	1.90 m
2004	World Indoor Championships	Budapest, Hungary	9th (q)	1.93 m
	Ibero-American Championships	Huelva, Spain	4th	1.88 m
	Olympic Games	Athens, Greece	16th (q)	1.89 m
2005	European Indoor Championships	Madrid, Spain	2nd	1.99 m
	World Athletics Final	Monte Carlo, Monaco	7th	1.89 m
	Mediterranean Games	Almería, Spain	1st	1.95 m
2006	World Indoor Championships	Moscow, Russia	3rd	1.98 m
	European Championships	Gothenburg, Sweden	9th	1.92 m
	World Athletics Final	Stuttgart, Germany	6th	1.90 m
2007	European Indoor Championships	Birmingham, United Kingdom	3rd	1.96 m
2007	World Championships	Osaka, Japan	6th	1.97 m
2008	World Indoor Championships	Valencia, Spain	4th	1.99 m
2008	Olympic Games	Beijing, China	4th	1.96 m
2009	European Indoor Championships	Torino, Italy	2nd	1.99 m
2009	World Championships	Berlin, Germany	4th	1.99 m
2010	World Indoor Championships	Doha, Qatar	2nd	1.98 m
	Ibero-American Championships	San Fernando, Spain	1st	1.89 m
	European Championships	Barcelona, Spain	6th	1.95 m
2011	European Indoor Championships	Paris, France	2nd	1.96 m
2011	World Championships	Daegu, South Korea	16th (q)	1.92 m
2012	World Indoor Championships	Istanbul, Turkey	6th	1.95 m
	European Championships	Helsinki, Finland	1st	1.97 m
	Olympic Games	London, United Kingdom	3rd	2.00 m
2013	European Indoor Championships	Gothenburg, Sweden	1st	1.99 m
2013	World Championships	Moscow, Russia	2nd	1.97 m
2014	World Indoor Championships	Sopot, Poland	3rd	2.00 m
2014	European Championships	Zürich, Switzerland	1st	2.01 m
2015	European Indoor Championships	Prague, Czech Republic	5th	1.94 m
	World Championships	Beijing, China	5th	1.99 m
	Diamond League		1st	details
2016	World Indoor Championships	Portland, United States	2nd	1.96 m
	European Championships	Amsterdam, Netherlands	1st	1.98 m
	Olympic Games	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	1st	1.97 m
	Diamond League		1st	details
2017	European Indoor Championships	Belgrade, Serbia	2nd	1.94 m
2017	World Championships	London, United Kingdom	12th	1.88 m

Personal Bests

Type	Event	Best	Location	Date
Outdoor	High Jump	2.02 m^[5]	San Sebastián, Spain	4 August 2007
Indoor	High Jump	2.01 m^[5]	Pireás, Greece	24 February 2007

Political career

In 2008, Beitia was named chair of the Regional Executive Committee of the local branch of the People's Party (PP), serving in that capacity until 2012.^[6]^[7]

In 2011, she was ninth on the closed list of the PP for the election to the Parliament of Cantabria; the PP won 20 seats and she was duly elected. During her first term, she was named First Parliamentary Secretary, presiding over committee meetings and other gatherings of leading parliamentary officials.^[6]^[7]

In the 2015 election, the PP lost its absolute majority and did not form the next government; however, she advanced her place on the list to sixth and was re-elected.^[6]^[8]

In September 2018, Beitia was appointed a member of the national PP's executive board by leader Pablo Casado, serving as Secretary of Sport.^[9]

In January 2019, the PP announced her advance on the list for the 2019 election to first place, thus becoming the party's candidate for President of Cantabria.^[10] Nevertheless, a few days after Beitia stepped down and informed Casado of her decision to "leave politics due to strictly personal and family reasons".^[11]