Champ on a trip to inspire the young

Athletics World 10K: Experience mattered in Beijing, says Constantina

Proof of her status was very much evident on Thursday as the Romanian arrived in Bangalore as the Brand Ambassador of the TCS World 10K scheduled for Sunday.

Cameramen clicked away as she posed next to a picture of her on the Beijing Olympics podium with the shimmering gold medal around her neck. Moments later, pride was the dominant emotion on Dita’s face as she watched a video clip of her marathon victory, before going on to describe that gold as the ‘most important medal in my life’.

“After many, many years of hard work, I achieved that gold. It’s the most important medal in my life. Of course, in my life, it is the second most important thing after my son, but they are two different things,” said Dita, who at 38 became the oldest winner of an Olympic marathon gold in Beijing.

Dita decimated the field that day, pulling away pretty early in the race and building up a big lead before eventually winning in 2: 26:44 — 22 seconds ahead of Kenya’s Catherine Ndereba. Three years on, it doesn’t take any prodding for the memories to rush forth.

“When I woke up that day, I didn’t think about winning. I thought maybe I’ll finish in the top-three, as there were quite a few strong athletes in the field. My strategy was to stay with the group till the half-way mark, as I had lost many times when I had tried to run from the front. But at 18K, when I realised how slow the race was, I started making my move and the other runners were not coming with me.

“I kept the pace going till about 40K and I realised that this medal could be mine. With 800M to, when I looked back, I saw the other runners were far behind. It was exciting to come into the stadium with all the people cheering and the race to the tape was an amazing, amazing, amazing experience...,” she said. “Every year, me and my friends watch the CD of that race and open a bottle of champagne to celebrate that win.”

Rewards have come Dita’s way after traversing a long hard road littered with failures. “When I was younger, I wasn’t mentally strong enough. I didn’t think I could win races then. But as I got older, I became mentally stronger and I could rely on my experience to win races. You learn from each race.

“Take Athens 2004, for instance. It was my worst race. It was very hot and I wasn’t prepared for that. I stopped at 20k, then walked for some distance, before running again and kept going till the finishline. But when Beijing came along, I trained specifically with the conditions in mind and it helped,” said Dita, who is on her second visit to India, the first one having come in 2004 when she finished third in the World Half-Marathon Championships in New Delhi.

“That was my first medal at a major meet and I really enjoyed the experience,” said the Romanian, who went on to win the half-marathon title the next year in Edmonton. At 41, Dita’s role is different these days. She hasn’t bid adieu to running yet but as the Olympic champion, she travels around, meeting people and inspiring young athletes by sharing her experiences.

“I started out after watching another Romanian -- Maricica Puica -- winning the 3000M Olympic gold at Los Angeles in 1984,” she said. “After 24 years, I realised my dream. Much the same way, I would be very happy if young athletes around the world can benefit from my experiences and achievements.”