Women's Marathon - 2001 IAAF World Championships (© Getty Images)
Three national records in the last six months have helped dispel the unenviable reputation that Constantina Dita-Tomescu built with her 'crash and burn' performance in the 2001 IAAF World Championship Marathon in Edmonton. Now the Romanian is ready to add another title to her growing collection in the revamped Singapore Marathon, sponsored by Standard Chartered Bank, which takes place this Sunday morning, 8 December 2002.
At 30k in Edmonton, Dita-Tomescu had a two-minute lead on her competitors, but could only finish tenth, albeit in a personal best of 2hr 30min 38sec, while her colleague Lidia Simon powered to victory. But Dita-Tomescu maintains that if a recurring leg problem had not flared up at 33k, she would have won. "All the way through, I was thinking, 'I'm the winner, I'm the winner'. But for the leg, I would have won".
Regular acupuncture since then has kept the problem at bay, and Dita-Tomescu performances have given substance to her claim. Three months after Edmonton, she improved her best by four minutes in the Tokyo Women's Marathon, and two months ago, she slashed another three minutes off that, with 2:23:54, to finish second to Ethiopia’s former World 10,000 metres champion, Gete Wami, in the Amsterdam Marathon.
In the interim, Dita-Tomescu had broken national records for 10k, 15k, and the Half-Marathon. All of which has underlined her pre-selection for both the World Championships in Paris next summer, and the Athens Olympics in 2004.
"In Amsterdam, I weakened in the last two kilometres, when I was running on 2.20 - 2.21 pace, but I'm getting stronger, and I hope to run under 2.20, either in London in Spring, or in Paris. That sort of time is not possible in Singapore, because of the humidity, it made us quite dizzy when we arrived".
Fortunately for Dita-Tomescu, who is the star attraction in Singapore, the new, flat shady course, and the 6.30am start will alleviate some of the atmospheric problems, and with top Kenyan performer, Hellen Kimaiyo as competition, the course record of 2.39.03 is due for substantial revision.
Pat Butcher for the IAAF
