Constantina Tomescu-Dita celebrates her Olympic marathon victory (© Getty Images)
Following Beijing, Olympic Gold medallist Constantina Dita has been fast on her feet with travel, training, and interviews. It’s only now after her return from New York can she really relax and process the intensity of the last few months. Here is her summary of the past ten weeks:
“After the Olympics I travelled to Romania for ten days to meet both the President and Prime minister. It was a great honour for me to go back to my homeland after winning a medal for the nation. I was awarded both a Medal of Honour and a Class 1 Medal of Sports Merit. The support I received was wonderful and everyday was jam packed with meetings and TV interviews. I barely had a day to see my family in my hometown.
“From Romania I flew straight to London to appear at the Adidas Women’s 5km Challenge. I fired the starting gun and joined in the race shortly after, running together with Heather Fell, a British girl who won the silver medal in the modern pentathlon. I really enjoyed running alongside women of all ages and levels, and it was fun with Heather. It was great to see so many women come together to raise money for charity and promote health and fitness for women.”
“From London, I returned to Colorado to prepare for the Chicago Marathon. Everybody in my hometown of Erie, as well as Boulder, has been great. They’ve all celebrated the gold medal with me and even here in America there were lots of parties, TV, and celebrations.
“Before Chicago I had an invitation to run the Dam-to-Dam 10-mile race in Amsterdam where I placed 4th. Even though I thought I’d be pretty tired from all the travelling, I ran just over 53 minutes, sub-2: 20 pace for a marathon, so it was a sign that I was still in good shape after all the post-Olympic activity.
“After a bit more altitude training, I flew to Chicago ten days before the race. I had many interviews, signings, and events to go to surrounding the race. Chicago is one of the final candidates to host the 2016 Olympic Games, and I was asked a lot about this. This was my sixth time to run Chicago, so I really feel at home there, and know all the good restaurants and places to shop. Carey Pinkowski (Race Director) has been very friendly every time I go there, and I feel I have many friends there. The days of course were much longer than usual, so I had to do my running each day earlier than usual to fit everything in. I was happy with my 4th place this year. It is a great race to participate in and it would be a great town for the Olympic Games.”
“On Sunday night after the race, some of the local Romanian community took me to a Romanian restaurant north of downtown, and we had a meal with all my favourite foods from back home. Every year, I hear a lot of Romanian cheering during the marathon in Chicago, and it is special.
“This month, I went to the New York Marathon not as a runner, but as a guest of ASICS, my main sponsor. Without the focus on running I had time for interviews, events, and I really was able to take the time to enjoy the city. For me it meant so much to be able to meet with many of the female runners to discuss training and race techniques. We inspire each other.
“ING hosted me one morning to speak to their international portfolio managers. The talk went good, one of my first big speeches in English, with lots of questions afterwards. I think maybe I should have been asking them questions about how to make my own investments! On race day, we had a great time watching the race from the Tavern on the Green, a beautiful restaurant right at the finish line. On Monday, Dave Bedford of the London Marathon invited me as his guest to the awards luncheon for the World Marathon Majors. As part of the ceremonies, there was a spectacular video shown with all the major marathon finishes of 2008. Watching the Olympic finish on a large screen was just phenomenal to see. It meant to so much to me to be among such great athletes that day.”
“Since then, I’ve been taking care of my house, and my son Rafael, who is busy all the time with school, basketball, and soccer. There are two more races remaining for me this month…the Chiba International Ekiden in Japan, and then the new Great Australia Run Melbourne…and then I can relax with my training until after the holidays. I am going to Romania for Christmas and the New Year with my son. It will be wonderful to spend time with all my family.”
Constantina
