Gold for Ruth Beitia in high jump: First for Spain in athletics since Barcelona '92

Ruth, the eldest of the 17 finalists at the age of 37, jumped the bar at the same height as Bulgaria's Mirela Demireva and Croatia's Blanka Vlasic, but with fewer faults, meaning the other two took the silver and bronze respectively.

London 2012's gold winner Anna Chicherova was not present, due to the veto on Russian athletes for alleged 'State doping', a scandal that has upset 'clean' athletes from the Federation and provoked the reluctant retirement of world-class javelin-thrower Yelena Isinbáyeva.

Beitia came fourth in London, but the three-times European champion was not content with this and hoped to finish what would be her last-ever Olympics with the top slot.

Her relentless training ahead of Rio 2016 paid off, and she was said to be in 'unbelievable form and fitness' when she arrived ready for her 'last chance'.

As well as winning Spain its first athletics gold since Barcelona '92, Beitia now holds the record as the oldest medallist in high-jump in history.

With victories in Diamond League competitions in Oslo, Stockholm and London, Beitia competed on a fast track – which she feels most comfortable on – in a warm and humid environment that reminded her of her native city, Santander (Cantabria) in summer.

She had qualified automatically for the Olympics this year by jumping the required minimum of 1.94 metres (6'4”), but had predicted she would need to clear two metres (6'6”) to win a medal and had been training with this in mind.

And by aiming for the stars, she found she was more than adequately prepared to reach the roof, with three centimetres, or just over an inch to spare.

Her experience in her sport and in the London Olympics helped her calculate what she would need to achieve to reach her goal, and she knew she would have to work for it – the favourite, US-born mother-of-three Chaunte Lowe, 32, is this year's world leader after clearing 2.01 metres (6'6.5”) and was hoping to end her Olympic career with a gold.

Only Chaunte and Germany's Marie-Laurence Jungfleisch had cleared two metres this year, but as Ruth has clearly shown, Chaunte may well have another games in her.

Double world champion Blanka Vlasic, also 32, was hoping for success in one form or another after a season with virtually no prizes won due to her long recovery from an Achilles' tendon injury – and, like the other 'veterans', or over-30s, was battling for her first-ever Olympic medal, which came in the shape of a bronze for Croatia.

Never before had a high-jump final featured such a range of ages and experience – the youngest competitor, Vashti Cunningham, 18, is the daughter of top-league sportsman Randall Cunningham and had beaten Beitia to the indoor world high-jump championships in March, but only came 13^th in Rio 2016.

Ruth, who had got through to the top slot without a single fault, is very sure that Rio will be her last Olympics.

“I don't see myself in the next games [Tokyo 2020], at the age of 41,” she admits.

“Life has been very generous with me – it has given me a second chance, I'm having the best time ever, but you should really give up when you're at 100%, at the peak of your abilities.”

Ruth says she has not stopped smiling since she got her medal, and her trainer, Ramón Torralbo, said he was 'barely able to speak' when he saw what his protégée had achieved.

He says it would be 'very difficult' for his pupil to make it to another Olympics – Rio 2016 is her fourth – but would be 'very excited' to see her carry on competing.

“It's in her hands – and feet. It's crucial that she enjoys this moment, because she really deserves it,” he concluded.