Tomescu Dita Breaks Away to Win Olympic Marathon – Ndereba defends silver; Zhou earns the bronze – By Parker Morse, Running USA wire

BEIJING, China – (August 17, 2008) – Constantina Tomescu Dita of Romania is known for making her move early, and nobody was surprised (or bothered to cover the move) when she burst from the large Olympic women's marathon pack near halfway on Sunday morning.

Catherine Ndereba of Kenya is known for running conservatively and waiting until others have made the race before she puts in her move, and everybody was surprised when the 2004 Olympic silver medalist allowed the chase pack to dawdle over a minute behind Tomescu Dita until it was too late to catch her.

At age 38, then, Tomescu Dita became the oldest Olympic Marathon medalist when she took the gold in 2 hours, 26 minutes, 44 seconds, her daring early move finally scoring a victory on the biggest possible stage for a marathoner. Tomescu Dita was 20th in Athens, scored a bronze at the Helsinki World Championships in 2005 and won the 2004 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon. Ndereba eventually dueled with China's Chunxiu Zhou to take silver in 2:27:06; Zhou the bronze in 2:27:07.

The race began at 7:30am local time in Tiananmen Square, in front of the Forbidden City, and was not without its bizarre moments. At the 1K mark, for example, the marker, placed a meter or two out from the curb, was engulfed and knocked over by the pack of marathoners. The large pack caused mayhem at every fluid station as athletes scrambled for their bottles, and the heavy traffic led to more than a few falls as the women, unused to running in such a large pack, struggled to stay out of each others' way.

Conditions were favorable for marathoning, with a temperature of 75F at the start and moderate humidity under a light overcast; the temperature in the stadium actually cooled to 71F during the race.

The British team of Liz Yelling, Osaka Marathon champion Mara Yamauchi and World record holder Paula Radcliffe dominated the front of the pack in the first half, though Mamorallo Tjoka of Lesotho did much of the early pace work. Tjoka, wearing a long beaded necklace, appeared to be favoring her right ankle and eventually dropped out after stopping more than once to loosen it up. Near 15K, Yelling suffered a nasty fall, and though she immediately rejoined the pack, she suffered significant road burns to her right shoulder and back.

Japan's Reiko Tosa, 2007 Worlds bronze medalist, was another significant casualty, falling off the lead pack before the 20K mark and struggling in apparent agony through 25K before finally dropping out.

Radcliffe might have been such a collapse, first making a pit stop not long after Tomescu Dita broke away, then stopping in the late stages of the race to stretch a cramping calf. Radcliffe was determined to finish, however, and she eventually placed 23rd in 2:32:38, the first marathon race she's finished without winning.

Meanwhile in the front, Ndereba, 36, was biding her time as first Chinese ace Zhou and then Kenyan Martha Komu took turns leading the pursuit.

Zhou's surges thinned the chase pack down from 20 or more to eleven, then six when Radcliffe fell off the back. Britain's Yamauchi and Russia's Irina Timofeeva were the last to be dropped, and when the race entered Olympic Park at 40K, Tomescu Dita, visibly suffering, still held a minute's lead.

Though it shrank dramatically, it lasted her to the finish. Zhou and Ndereba didn't shake China's Xiaolin Zhu and Komu until they entered the stadium, at that point 150 meters behind Dita, and the pair began their sprints with 300 meters remaining. Ndereba did not gain the upper hand for good until 50 meters before the finish line, leaving bronze for Zhou.

"In the last kilometers, I was looking back because I didn't want to lose the medal," said Dita, who maintained regular 5K splits between 16:48 and 17:07 through the second half of the race. "I kept looking back to check because I felt a little bit in my legs. Sometimes in the past I lost time, but this time I stayed in the last two kilometers. I pushed my hardest in the second half."

Ndereba, who might have caught Dita had she moved to chase her sooner, refused to second guess her own decision. "Disappointment is not in my vocabulary," said the two-time world champion.

Zhou, the 2007 Worlds silver medalist, blamed her failure to give chase on her own fitness. "I have had several injuries this year and I haven't trained regularly," she explained. "I just kept following my rhythm."

Team USA suffered early in the race. While Blake Russell was visible in the pack, Deena Kastor, the defending bronze medalist, discovered a nagging injury in her right foot was too painful to let her run with her natural gait. Then, approaching the 5K mark, "I felt a pop," she reported. [A post-race x-ray revealed a broken right foot.] She limped to the side of the course and tried to deal with the problem, but was unable to even walk without a limp. "I didn't expect to be finishing the marathon in a bus," she admitted. "As athletes, we have ups and downs. Unfortunately, you can't pick the days they come on."

Magdalena Lewy Boulet also struggled. "I hurt my knee a few days ago," she reported. "I just can't bend it, and it got worse and worse. I was hoping it would warm up and go away, but it got really stiff. I was limping the whole way." Lewy Boulet would drop out after 15K.

Russell would be the only finisher for Team USA, 27th in 2:33:13.

Despite feared adverse conditions for the marathon, the field as a whole had better luck than the Americans. Only 12 athletes did not finish out of 81 starters.

Olympic Games: Beijing
Streets of Beijing and finish at National Stadium / "Bird's Nest"
Sunday, August 17, 2008

Women's Marathon
1) Constantina Tomescu Dita (ROU), 2:26:44, Gold
2) Catherine Ndereba (KEN), 2:27:06, Silver
3) Chunxiu Zhou (CHN), 2:27:07, Bronze
4) Xiaolin Zhu (CHN), 2:27:16
5) Martha Komu (KEN), 2:27:23
6) Mara Yamauchi (GBR), 2:27:29
7) Irina Timofeyeva (RUS), 2:27:31
8) Lidia Simon (ROU), 2:27:51
9) Souad Aït Salem (ALG), 2:28:29
10) Salina Jebet Kosgei (KEN), 2:29:28
U.S. results
27) Blake Russell (USA), 2:33:13
Deena Kastor (USA) – DNF (right foot)
Magdalena Lewy Boulet (USA) – DNF (knee)

Complete results, starts lists, daily schedule and more at: www.iaaf.org/OLY08/results/eventCode=3659/index.html

Ryan Lamppa, Running USA Media Director
(805) 696-6232
Ryan@RunningUSA.org | www.RunningUSA.org