Guatemala has won its very first Olympic gold medal in the history of the Central American country. On Wednesday (July 31), Adriana Ruano Oliva made history with her performance in the women’s trap shooting final at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris.
Not only did Ruano Oliva win gold, she also set a new Olympic record by hitting 45 clay pigeons. The record she beat was 43 held by Slovakia’s Zuzana Rehák-Štefečeková who set it in 2021.
“I am blessed to have my mom and brother in Paris, giving me their support,” Ruano Oliva said prior to the event. “I thank them too and all my fellow Guatemalans. Know that I carry you all in my heart.”
Guatemala’s president Bernardo Arévalo congratulated Ruano Oliva on her success on the world stage. “The Olympic history of Guatemala is written in golden letters thanks to Adriana Ruano,” Arévalo wrote on social media.
Ruano Oliva’s victory comes more than a decade after she suffered a spinal injury that ended her career as a gymnast when she was only 16 years old. She also competed in trap shooting the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo only three weeks after the death of her father. She finished in 26th place.
Guatemala first participated in the Olympic Games in 1952. It wasn’t until 2012 that Érick Barrondo won the country’s first Olympic medal, a silver in the men’s 20 km walk. Guatemala’s second-ever medal, a bronze, happened on Tuesday (July 30) when Jean Pierre Brol Cardenas won it in the men’s trap shooting final. Ruano Oliva is the third medal won by Guatemala and the first by a Guatemalan woman.
See Adriana Ruano Oliva competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics below.