Adriana Ruano Oliva put her hand over the Guatemalan flag on her jacket and cried. It was Wednesday, July 31, 2024, in Chateauroux, and she had just won the women’s trap at the Paris Olympics. Her country had never won an Olympic gold. As the anthem played, it was the first time it had been heard at the medal ceremony of an international competition, Xinhua reported.
“A lot of emotions right now. I feel like it’s a dream,” she said. Her road there was crooked. She had been a gymnast for 10 years until a spinal injury in 2011 ended it. A friend of her brother introduced her to shotgun shooting. She did not make it to Rio 2016 as an athlete, so she volunteered, was put on the shooting events and watched her teammates compete. Guatemala has only one range where she and her teammates could train. A month before the Tokyo Games her father died, and she finished last there. In Chateauroux she led by six hits with five targets left. “This medal is dedicated to my father,” she said.
Four flags, four firsts
Guatemala was one of four countries to win a first Olympic gold in Paris. The others were Botswana, Dominica and Saint Lucia.
Dominica, with about 67,000 people, had competed at the Summer Games since Atlanta in 1996 without a medal. Then Thea LaFond-Gadson won the women’s triple jump. Saint Lucia, with nearly three times Dominica’s population, got its first medal ever when Julien Alfred won the women’s 100m, and she added silver in the 200m. For both islands, the first medal was a gold.
Botswana had medals already: silver for Nijel Amos in the 800m at London 2012 and bronze for the men’s 4x400m relay at Tokyo 2020. The gold came on August 8, when Letsile Tebogo, 21, ran the men’s 200m in 19.46 seconds, an African record, beating Americans Kenny Bednarek and Noah Lyles. He was the first African to win the event. With his silver in the 4x400m relay, Botswana’s Olympic total rose to four.
The other firsts
Four countries and five delegations in all won a first-ever medal. Cape Verde took boxing bronze through David De Pina, and Albania took wrestling bronze through Chermen Valiev. Dominica and Saint Lucia were the other two. The fifth delegation was the Refugee Olympic Team, whose first medal was boxing bronze for Cindy Ngamba.
At the top of the table the story was familiar. The United States finished with 126 medals, 35 more than the next nation, and its eighth consecutive Summer Games leading the overall count. It won 40 golds, 44 silvers and 42 bronzes. China also took 40 golds, with 27 silvers and 24 bronzes for 91 medals. In all, 329 gold medals were awarded.
On August 13, Botswana’s team flew home to Gaborone. Hundreds of people waved the sky blue and black national flag at the small airport. President Mokgweetsi Masisi, who had declared a half-day holiday, danced on the tarmac before greeting the athletes, with an aide holding an umbrella over him.
Sources
- USA bids adieu to Paris Olympics with most total medals, matched by China with 40 golds (NBC Olympics)
- Big day for small countries: Saint Lucia, Dominica and more make history at Paris 2024 (NBC Olympics)
- Olympics | Feature: Gymnast-turned-shooter Ruano Oliva makes history for Guatemala with women's trap gold (Xinhua)
- Flags and dancing as Botswana welcomes home Olympic gold (SuperSport, AFP)
