Constantina Tomescu Dita - Gold

• Author: admin
• Filed under: Uncategorized
• Date: Aug 17,2008

Constantina Tomescu-Dita has won the 2008 Olympic Marathon, using a bold mid-race surge to pull away from the field and then courageously holding on for gold in 2:26:44. The performance earned the first Olympic medal for the 38-year old Romanian, who became the oldest winner of an Olympic Marathon.

Taking silver behind Dita was Kenya’s Catherine “The Great” Ndereba, who outsprinted China’s Zhou Chunxiu by a second, 2:27:06 to 2:27:07. China’s Xiaolin Zhu placed fourth while Kenya’s Martha Komu placed fifth. Also notable were Great Britain’s World Record Holder Paula Radcliffe who overcame a lack of conditioning caused by injuries to finish 23rd and American Record Holder Deena Kastor, who dropped out early with an apparent foot injury.

Meet Constantina Tomescu-Dita, a Romanian marathon runner. Constantina Tomescu-Dita took the lead at about the halfway mark of the Women’s Marathon in Beijing Sunday, taking home the gold and finishing the race in 2 hours, 26 minutes and 44 seconds. Kenya’s Catherine Ndereba took the silver and China’s Zhou Chunxiu took home the bronze.

As a biography, Constantina Tomescu-Dita was born on January 23, 1970 in Turburea, Gorj County, Romania. At 38 years old, she stands 5 feet 3 inches and weighs 106 pounds.

She currently holds the Romanian records for the 5k, 10k, 15k, Half Marathon and Marathon. She competed in the 2004 Athens Olympics and placed 20th, finishing with a time of 2:37:31. The following year, she won 2nd place at the Flora London Marathon and 3rd place at the World Championships Marathon. In 2006, she placed 7th in the Flora London Marathon and 5th in the Lasalle Bank Chicago Marathon. She took 3rd place in the 2007 Flora London Marathon with a time of 2:23:55.

She is married to her coach, Valeriu Tomescu and together they have a son, Raphael, who was born in 1995. She attended the Bucharest Sports Academy, where she graduated in February 2006 with a degree in Sports and Physical Education.