Olympic Marathon Champ Constantina Dita Wraps up Main Training, Flies to London Tonight
Press Release
July 18, 2012
final hard training session this morning in her US hometown of Erie,
Colorado a set of repeat 2,000m intervals and will fly out on this
evenings British Airways Denver/London flight to compete in her third
Olympic Games.
In Beijing four years ago, the long-time Colorado/USA resident broke
away from the field from the 20-kilometer point to win in 2:26:44,
including a brilliant 71:33 split for the second half of the race to
become the Olympic champion at age 38. This time around, the Olympic
marathon falls on the date Dita will be 42 years 195 days old, a
golden date for an athlete challenging the 42.195 kilometer distance.
This will be Ditas 11th marathon in London, following her ten
consecutive appearances at the Flora/Virgin London Marathon from 2003
through this Spring, three times achieving the top three podium.
London is really special for me, and Dave Bedford and the whole
London Marathon staff have been great to me over the years, including
a very nice celebration they made for me right after I won the gold
medal in 2008. I am looking forward to running in front of all the
British fans again next month.
Dita, who has been sponsored by ASICS for the past ten years,
commented last night, Overall my training has gone really well. Of
course there have been a few days when I really feel I am 42 years
old! But just last week I did my final long run, a 25 km workout up in
Nederland. I was surprised that I was running 25K faster up there at
8,400 feet than I have done some of my 25K workouts here in Erie,
which is much lower altitude.
For me, I am hoping to run well, and I will do my best. I will fly
with my sister Irina, who has helped my training here the past two
months. We will stay at a hotel near Hyde Park until I move into the
Olympic Village just before the womens marathon. My son Rafael [who
is a student at Erie High School] is hoping to get a tryout with the
Rapids next week, so he will fly over to London just a few days before
my race.
Although in London Dita will represent her native Romania, from
January last year she became a US citizen. I was so proud and excited
to take the citizenship oath. Ive been living in Colorado for ten
years now. The organizers there also made a nice announcement to
everybody about me being the Olympic champion, but for all of us who
became Americans that day, it was really special.
Dita is one of seven athletes represented by Boulder Wave who will
race in the womens Olympic Marathon. Women assisted by Brendan Reilly
and Boulder Wave have won the past three consecutive Olympic gold
medals in the marathon, and the run of Olympic marathon medals is four
straight going back to Yuko Arimoris bronze medal in Atlanta in 1996.
The group this time also includes reigning marathon world champion
Edna Kiplagat of Kenya; 2009 world championships silver medalist
Yoshimi Ozaki of Japan; and 2000 Sydney Olympic silver medalist Lidia
Simon of Boulder, who will become the first woman to have competed in
five Olympic marathons.
Reilly comments, The depth of the field is incredible, with eight or
nine sub-2:20 women in the field, and also another half-dozen women
who can be very dangerous if the race comes down to a 5km kick at the
end. I told our women that it is perfectly within their grasp to come
away with at least one of the medals, with three, possibly four, of
our women in the top ten. Everybody has trained very well and they are
supported by some very devoted and tireless coaches.
The womens Olympic Marathon will be on a loop course starting and
finishing on the Mall in front of Buckingham Palace. The race start is
11:00 a.m. on August 5th, 4:00 a.m. Colorado time.
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