Gold medalist Spain's Ruth Beitia kisses her medal during the awarding ceremony for the women's high jump final of Athletcis at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Aug. 20, 2016. (Xinhua/Liu Bin)
RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Spain's Ruth Beitia surprised the field to win her maiden major title of high jump at an age of 37 years old at the Rio Olympics on Saturday.
The Spaniard took the gold medal on a countback after being one of four competitors with a best leap of 1.97m.
As Mirela Demireva of Bulgaria, Croatia's Blanka Vlasic and Chaunte Lowe of the United States all posted a best effort of 1.97m, Beitia came out the sole jumper succeeding in all her efforts of 1.88, 1.93 and 1.97 meters on her first attempts.
Demireva took the silver after failing her first attempt on 1.88, while Vlasic settled for a bronze with failure on all her first attempts of three heights.
Lowe, who leaped over 1.88 and 1.93 once for all, narrowly missed a podium finish as the 32-year-old didn't clear the 1.97m bar until her third attempt.