High-jumper Ruth Beitia earns Fair Play Award for comforting eliminated rival at London World Championships

SPANISH Olympic high-jumper Ruth Beitia's crashing out of the World Athletics Championships in London left her in floods of tears this week, but her spirits have since been lifted by her receiving the IAAF's International Fair Play Award for 'outstanding sportsmanship'.

Ruth, 38, from the northern coastal region of Cantabria, was seen consoling her Italian rival Alessia Trost for some time after the latter was also eliminated and was pictured sobbing on the track.

Admitting she was 'surprised and proud', Ruth said: “I've spent 32 years practising this sport [since she was six years old] and I owe all that I am to athletics.

“I don't know whether what I did was a beautiful or an ugly gesture or what – for me, it was just a human gesture and I've always been like that around my fellow competitors.”

Rio 2016 gold medallist and Spanish team captain, Ruth ended up 11^th in the World Championships and has already said she 'does not know what she plans to do yet' concerning her professional future – after her triumph in Brazil, Sra Beitia said she 'could not see herself' competing at Tokyo 2020 as she would then be 41 years old.

But she says Alessia Trost has had a tougher time of it than she has.

“[Alessia] has gone through a rough ride this year – only two weeks ago, her lifelong trainer died, and she was distraught when she arrived here in London.

“We get on really well. The day after [Alessia's elimination], she sent me a really affectionate message to say it had been a 'lovely gesture' on my part and congratulating me on having reached the final.”

It was in the final that Ruth herself performed badly and left very upset, but the smile was back on the Cantabrian athlete's face when she was presented with her award by legendary runner and IAAF chairman, Sebastian Coe.