The match against Lopez was also unusual in that the nine-time champion of the circuit – all eyes were on her coming into Saltillo to see whether she could notch trophy number 10 – missed an arrow in the fourth end.
The Colombian archer later made up for it by beating Great Britain’s Ella Gibson in the bronze medal match.
For Ruiz, however, shooting in such strange circumstances and then having to go into the cauldron against a Mexican in Mexico proved as much as anything that she is made of strong stuff.
The 27-year-old athlete also mentioned how she had not fully recovered from a dramatic accident she suffered just weeks ago.
“I don’t know how many people know, but I was in a car accident a month ago, so I’m not fully healed. So I knew I had that challenge going into today and then just all the mental stuff I had to go through.”
“I think I realised a new capability of who I am and what I can handle.”
Ruiz has for the past couple of years been the top-ranked compound women’s archer from the USA, which is no easy feat considering the depth of talent in the country. Now, after everything that happened this afternoon, Plaza de Armas is the place where she proved her mettle as a competitor, to herself and the watching world.
The Jaatma match was tough on its own, but she pulled through that, beat the greatest of all time and then overcame the popular Quintero – something many could not do.
The action continues this weekend in Saltillo, with the recurve finals taking place tomorrow, which you can watch live with a subscription to archery+.
