Constantina Diță

Constantina Diță (formerly Constantina Diță-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. She was the marathon gold medallist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, having previously won a bronze medal at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics. She also represented her country at the Olympics in 2000 and 2004.

Constantina Diță
Constantina Diță in 2012
Personal information
Nationality Romania
Born (1970-01-23) January 23, 1970
Turburea, Romania
Height1.60 m (5 ft 3 in)
Weight48 kg (106 lb)
Sport
SportLong-distance running
ClubCS Pandurii Tg. Jiu
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing  Romania
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place2008 Beijing Marathon
World Championships
Bronze medal – third place2005 Helsinki Marathon
World Half Marathon Championships
Gold medal – first place 2005 Edmonton Individual
Gold medal – first place 2005 Edmonton Team
Silver medal – second place1998 ZürichTeam
Silver medal – second place2004 DelhiTeam
Silver medal – second place 2006 Debrecen (20km) Individual
Bronze medal – third place2003 VilamouraTeam
Bronze medal – third place2004 DelhiIndividual
World Marathon Majors
Gold medal – first place 2004 Chicago Marathon
Silver medal – second place 2003 Chicago Marathon
Silver medal – second place 2005 London Marathon
Silver medal – second place 2005 Chicago Marathon
Bronze medal – third place 2004 London Marathon
Bronze medal – third place 2007 London Marathon

She has a marathon best of 2:21:30 hours. She was the champion at the 2005 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships – the first Romanian to win that honour. She was the 2004 Chicago Marathon winner.

Career

As a child, Diță became interested in athletics and particularly admired Maricica Puică after seeing her win the 3000 metres gold at the 1984 Summer Olympics.[2] Diță 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.[3] 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.

Diță 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.[4][5][6]

She ran marathon at the 2012 Summer Olympics and finished in 86th place.[7]

Personal bests

International competitions
YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventNotes
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, United Kingdom 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
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
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
2008 Summer Olympics Beijing, China 1st Marathon 2:26:44 SB
2012 Summer Olympics London, United Kingdom 86th Marathon 2:41:34 SB

Marathons
YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventNotes
2001 Tokyo Marathon Tokyo, Japan 4th Marathon 2:26:39
2004 Chicago Marathon Chicago, United States 1st Marathon 2:21:30 PB
2007 London Marathon London, United Kingdom 3rd Marathon 2:23.55

Awards

References
  1. Constantina Diţă Archived 2012-08-07 at the Wayback Machine. worldmarathonmajors. Retrieved on 2008-08-17.
  2. Dita admires Maricica Puica Archived 2012-02-23 at the Wayback Machine. Spikes Magazine. Retrieved on 2010-04-30.
  3. "Women's marathon". 2001 World Championships in Athletics. Archived from the original on 2 December 2005. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  4. Marathon Drama Left for Silver as Romanian Runs Away With Gold New York Times, accessed 17 August 2008
  5. Tomescu improving with age like fine wine guardian.co.uk, accessed 08/17/08
  6. Romanian runs away with marathon Toronto Star, accessed 17 August 2008
  7. Constantina Diţă-Tomescu. sports-reference.com
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