Paris/Prensa Latina
By Fausto Triana/special correspondent
Guatemalan Adriana Ruano, in shooting, and Argentine José Torres, in BMX Freestyle, ended today the golden drought of Latin America at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The first gold medal in history at this stage for Guatemala and an exultant moment for the entire Central American nation, followed Argentina with the gold title of Torres, in BMX Free Style.
The man from Rio de la Plata, nicknamed Maligno, had spectacular sensations, with 94.82 points in his first “run” or race. He beat the British Kieran Reilly, silver, and the French Anthony Jenjean, bronze, and made the most of his status as a competitor with many tricks in the modality.
If anything was missing, the setting of the Place de la Concorde could not have been better. The legendary location, on the edge of the Tuileries Garden and a short distance from the Olympic cauldron.
Coincidences. Both Torres and Ruano are 29 years old. The Guatemalan made headlines at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre in France, about two and a half hours from Paris, where she beat the Italian María Silvana Stanco (40 points) and the Australian Penny Smith (32) with an Olympic record of 45 points. Ruano, who initially opted for artistic gymnastics and an injury ended up redirecting her towards sport shooting, improved the current Olympic record, held by the Slovak Zuzana Rehak Stefecekova since the Tokyo 2020 Games, with 45 hits out of 50 possible.
In fact, all of her performances on Wednesday wrote new pages for the sport of Guatemala and Central America. In addition to the gold medal, she became the first shooter from her country to compete in an Olympic tournament in the discipline.
He also added a special touch of colour to his country’s presence at the Paris games with an emotional message from the President of Guatemala, Bernardo Arévalo, on his profile on the social network X.
Earlier, his compatriot Jean Pierre Broa won a bronze medal, which places Guatemala as the provisional Latin American leader in the Olympic Games.
“It is a great gift from God and dedicated to heaven, to my husband who always supported her, who loved her so much,” said Yany Oliva, Adriana’s mother, in a video posted on social media, who was in the stands of the competition pit.
On the other hand, judo also offered joy for Latin America, with Mexico and Brazil as protagonists. Prisca Awiti won silver in the 63 kilo category, the first Mexican to obtain an award at this level at the Olympic level.
The Brazilians won silver from Willian Lima (-66 kilos) and bronze from Larissa Pimenta (-52) in judo, while Rayssa Leal already has bronze in street skateboarding.
There are still many Latin American appearances to be made at the quadrennial event, and among other nations, Cuba is banking on one of the greatest feats that can be achieved in the City of Lights, that of the four-time Olympic champion in all weight classes in Greco-Roman wrestling, Mijaín López, aspiring to his fifth title.
The same goes for the prospects of their boxers Arlen López and Erislandy Alvarez, and the silver volleyball pair, Noslan Díaz and Jorge Luis Alayo, and their debut in athletics, with triple jumper Leyanis Pérez as a strong candidate for medals.
Colombia is anxiously awaiting its favourite BMX racer, the already experienced Mariana Pajón, who starts this Thursday. La Tata, as she is affectionately called, will be looking for her third Olympic gold, after her victories in London 2012 and Rio de Janeiro 2016.
The Paisa runner has a thorn in her side over her second title in Tokyo 2020 and wants revenge in Paris.
Football, volleyball, basketball, shooting, sailing, canoeing, diving, rowing and artistic gymnastics are sports in which Latin America and the Caribbean can achieve important results.
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