Romania’s Olympic champion in Beijing, marathon runner Constantina Dita retires from sport.
A few days ago, Bucharest hosted the seventh edition of its international marathon. The winner for women was the Romanian runner Paula Claudia Todoran, while for men it was Boaz Kipkorir Kipyego of Kenya.
The athletes who climbed the podium were rewarded with medals bearing the name Constantina Dita, Romania’s Olympic champion in Beijing in 2008 and national champion in the 20 km road track event, the marathon and half marathon. She used the opportunity of this latest event to announce her retirement from sports.
Constantina Dita Tomescu was born in the village of Turburea, Gorj County and spent her childhood in the countryside. Before athletics she was a handball player. In 2005, in Edmonton, Canada, she became world champion in the half marathon, and that same year in Helsinki, Finland, she came in third in the World Marathon.
In 2004, at the Olympics in Athens, Constantina Dita finished the marathon in the 20th place. She was very close to abandoning because a near heat stroke. However, she walked on for another mile, then resumed running, finishing in a decent position.
In 2008 at the Beijing Olympics, Constantina’s victory in the marathon was the greatest pleasant surprise for Romanians. Few expected her to end up in a top position. Romanians were pinning their hopes mostly on Lidia Simon, a silver medallist at the Olympics in Sydney. Constantina Dita, however, exceeded the highest expectations and finished the race like a true champion.
20 km into the race, she took the lead, which she didn’t relinquish until the end, in spite of the efforts made by the Kenyan runner Cathernie Ndereba, her main rival. In the end, Ndereba came in second, while the Chinese runner Chunxiu Zhou grabbed the third place.
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