Romanian mum wins marathon
2008-08-17 06:01
Beijing - Constantina Tomescu-Dita, a 38-year-old mother from Romania, pulled away from the lead pack near the halfway mark in the marathon on Sunday to win by 22 seconds over her nearest challenger.
Reigning world champion Catherine Ndereba of Kenya outsprinted China's Zhou Chunxiu for the silver to the disappointment of the roaring crowd at National Stadium. Still, the bronze was China's first medal in track and field. Another Chinese runner, Zhu Xiaolin, was fourth.
The 42.2km race was expected to be the biggest test yet of what impact Beijing's polluted skies and muggy heat would have on the Olympic endurance events.
Ndereba took silver
Instead, the weather provided the runners with relief. Gray morning skies replaced the blue of the previous two days with a light rain falling at times.
Tomescu-Dita won in 2 hours, 26 minutes, 44 seconds. Ndereba, a pre-race favorite, finished in 2:27:06, one second ahead of Zhou.
It was the second consecutive Olympic silver medal for Ndereba. At 36, she may not get another chance.
"I'm not disappointed," she said. "Disappointed is not in my vocabulary when I'm doing this."
World record-holder Paula Radcliffe of Britain, who earlier decided to race in her fourth straight Olympics because she is recovering from a stress fracture in her thigh, struggled to finish 23rd, nearly six minutes behind the winner.
Walked back on course
She stayed with the leaders through the early stages but faded. Not far from the finish she walked to the railing and stretched, then walked back onto the course and began to run.
"I'm not sure what happened," she said of her pain, saying it was either a cramp or just her body protecting herself from the injury.
Tomescu-Dita said: "I pushed hard and wanted my gold medal.
"I was looking back the whole time."
- SAPA