Constantina Diţă-Tomescu

Constantina Diţă

Personal information
Nationality	Romania
Born	January 23, 1970 (1970-01-23) (age 41) Turburea, Romania
Residence	Boulder, Colorado, United States
Height	63 inches (160 cm)
Weight	106 pounds (48 kg)

Constantina Diţă (formerly Constantina Diţă-Tomescu^[1] born on January 23, 1970 in Turburea, Gorj County), is a Romanian long-distance runner, who specializes mainly in the half marathon and marathon.

As a child, Diţă became interested in athletics and particularly admired Maricica Puică after seeing her win the 3000 metres gold at the 1984 Summer Olympics.^[2] Diţă had her first successes at the 1999 European Cross Country Championships at which she won silver medals in the individual race and the team race with Romania. She began competing in the marathon and was tenth at the 2001 World Championships in Athletics. She ran in the Olympic marathon at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens (finishing twentieth) and went on to win the Chicago Marathon later that year, running a personal best of 2:21:30.

After winning the marathon bronze at the 2005 World Championships she became the World Half Marathon Champion. She won a silver medal at the 2006 IAAF World Road Running Championships and reached the podium of the 2007 London Marathon, taking third place.

Diţă won the women's marathon at the 2008 Summer Olympics in 2 hours, 26 minutes and 44 seconds. At 38 years of age, she became the oldest Olympic marathon champion in history. Previously the oldest man to win an Olympic marathon was aged 37 and the oldest woman was aged 30. She lives and trains at altitude in Boulder, Colorado, and was married to her coach, Valeriu Tomescu, until they divorced in 2008.^[3][4][5]

Achievements

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
Representing  Romania
1998	World Cross Country Championships	Marrakesh, Morocco	16th	Short race
	European Championships	Budapest, Hungary	17th	Marathon	2:34:35
	World Half Marathon Championships	Uster, Switzerland	29th	Half marathon
1999	World Cross Country Championships	Belfast, Northern Ireland	14th	Long race
			11th	Short race
	World Championships	Seville, Spain	19th	Marathon
	World Half Marathon Championships	Palermo, Italy	12th	Half marathon
	European Cross Country Championships	Velenje, Slovenia	2nd	Senior race
			2nd	Team race
2000	World Cross Country Championships	Vilamoura, Portugal	35th	Long race
			22nd	Short race
2001	World Cross Country Championships	Ostend, Belgium	33rd	Long race
	World Championships	Edmonton, Canada	10th	Marathon	2:30:38
	World Half Marathon Championships	Bristol, United Kingdom	32nd	Half marathon
	Tokyo Marathon	Tokyo, Japan	4th	Marathon	2:26:39
2002	European Championships	Munich, Germany	7th	10,000 m
	World Half Marathon Championships	Brussels, Belgium	22nd	Half marathon
2003	World Championships	Paris, France	DNF	Marathon
	World Half Marathon Championships	Vilamoura, Portugal	5th	Half marathon
2004	Summer Olympics	Athens, Greece	20th	Marathon	2:37:31
	World Half Marathon Championships	New Delhi, India	3rd	Half marathon
	Chicago Marathon	Chicago, United States	1st	Marathon	2:21:30 PB
2005	World Championships	Helsinki, Finland	3rd	Marathon
	World Half Marathon Championships	Edmonton, Canada	1st	Half marathon
2006	European Championships	Gothenburg, Sweden	11th	10,000 m	31:49.47 PB
	World Road Running Championships	Debrecen, Hungary	2nd	20 km
2007	London Marathon	London, United Kingdom	3rd	Marathon	2:23.55
2008	Summer Olympics	Beijing, China	1st	Marathon	2:26:44 SB

Personal bests

• 5000 metres - 15:28.91 min (2000)
• 10,000 metres - 31:49.47 min (2006)
• Half marathon - 1:08:10 hrs (2002)
• Marathon - 2:21:30 hrs (2005)

Individual awards

• Romanian sportsperson of the year: 2008
• National Sports Award: 2009

References

1. ^ Constantina Diţă. worldmarathonmajors. Retrieved on 2008-08-17.
2. ^ Dita admires Maricica Puica. Spikes Magazine. Retrieved on 2010-04-30.
3. ^ Marathon Drama Left for Silver as Romanian Runs Away With Gold New York Times, accessed 17 August 2008
4. ^ Tomescu improving with age like fine wine guardian.co.uk, accessed 08/17/08
5. ^ Romanian runs away with marathon Toronto Star, accessed 17 August 2008

External links

• IAAF profile for Constantina Tomescu
• Official website
• marathoninfo

Persondata
Name	Dita-Tomescu, Constantina
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1970-01-23
Place of birth	Turburea, Romania
Date of death
Place of death