Olympics-Athletics-Beitia wins historic high jump gold for Spain

RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Spaniard Ruth Beitia won Spain's first Olympic gold medal in women's athletics when she took the Rio high jump title to claim her first global outdoor crown at the age of 37 on Saturday. The three-times European champion cleared 1.88m, 1.93m and 1.97m the first attempt and became the oldest Olympic champion in the jumps on countback when all four remaining athletes failed to get over two metres. Mirela Demireva of Bulgaria took silver ahead of Croatia's Blanka Vlasic, who added bronze to the silver she won at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Russia's London 2012 champion Anna Chicherova was unable to take part in the Games because she was provisionally suspended after a retested sample from the 2008 Olympics tested positive. (Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, Editing by Ed Osmond)