- Constantina Diţă-Tomescu
-
Constantina Diţă Personal information Nationality Romania
Born January 23, 1970
Turburea, RomaniaResidence 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
- ^ Constantina Diţă. worldmarathonmajors. Retrieved on 2008-08-17.
- ^ Dita admires Maricica Puica. Spikes Magazine. Retrieved on 2010-04-30.
- ^ Marathon Drama Left for Silver as Romanian Runs Away With Gold New York Times, accessed 17 August 2008
- ^ Tomescu improving with age like fine wine guardian.co.uk, accessed 08/17/08
- ^ Romanian runs away with marathon Toronto Star, accessed 17 August 2008
External links
- IAAF profile for Constantina Tomescu
- Official website
- marathoninfo
Olympic Champions in Women's Marathon - 1984: Joan Benoit (USA)
- 1988: Rosa Mota (POR)
- 1992: Valentina Yegorova (EUN)
- 1996: Fatuma Roba (ETH)
- 2000: Naoko Takahashi (JPN)
- 2004: Mizuki Noguchi (JPN)
- 2008: Constantina Tomescu (ROU)
World Champions in Women's Half Marathon 1992: Liz McColgan (GBR) · 1993: Conceição Ferreira (POR) · 1994: Elana Meyer (RSA) · 1995: Valentina Yegorova (RUS) · 1996: Ren Xiujuan (CHN) · 1997: Tegla Loroupe (KEN) · 1998: Tegla Loroupe (KEN) · 1999: Tegla Loroupe (KEN) · 2000: Paula Radcliffe (GBR) · 2001: Paula Radcliffe (GBR) · 2002: Berhane Adere (ETH) · 2003: Paula Radcliffe (GBR) · 2004: Sun Yingjie (CHN) · 2005: Constantina Tomescu (ROM) · 2006: Lornah Kiplagat (NED) · 2007: Lornah Kiplagat (NED) · 2008: Lornah Kiplagat (NED) · 2009: Mary Keitany (KEN) · 2010: Florence Kiplagat (KEN)Chicago Women's Marathon Winners 1977: Dorothy Doolittle (USA) · 1978: Lynae Larson (USA) · 1979: Laura Michalek (USA) · 1980: Sue Petersen (USA) · 1981: Tina Gandy (USA) · 1982: Nancy Conz (USA) · 1983–1984: Rosa Mota (POR) · 1985: Joan Benoit (USA) · 1986: Ingrid Kristiansen (NOR) · 1987: Not Held · 1988–1989: Lisa Weidenbach (USA) · 1990: Aurora Cunha (POR) · 1991: Midde Hamrin (SWE) · 1992: Linda Somers (USA) · 1993: Ritva Lemettinen (FIN) · 1994: Kristy Johnston (USA) · 1995: Ritva Lemettinen (FIN) · 1996–1997: Marian Sutton (GBR) · 1998–1999: Joyce Chepchumba (KEN) · 2000–2001: Catherine Ndereba (KEN) · 2002: Paula Radcliffe (GBR) · 2003: Svetlana Zakharova (RUS) · 2004: Constantina Tomescu-Dita (ROM) · 2005: Deena Kastor (USA) · 2006–2007: Berhane Adere (ETH) · 2008: Lidiya Grigoryeva (RUS) · 2009–2011: Liliya Shobukhova (RUS)
World Marathon Majors: Berlin Marathon - List (M/W) · Boston Marathon - List (M/W) · Chicago Marathon - List (M/W) · London Marathon - List (M/W) · New York City Marathon - List (M/W) Categories:- 1970 births
- Living people
- Romanian long-distance runners
- Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics
- Olympic athletes of Romania
- Olympic gold medalists for Romania
- People from Gorj County
- Chicago Marathon winners
- Olympic medalists in athletics (track and field)
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