GoldCatherine NDEREBA, KEN
I guess it was the toughest marathon of my career. It was so hot. Some people said after I did not win in Athens or Helsinki that Catherine is finished. But I showed them that with help of God that I can win again. It does not matter which kind of pace you are running. I must tell you I did not had any special tactics, my faith was helping me. I'm a "new-born" Christian and I'm trying to race for glory and power of the God. Of course I ran well and wanted also to win for Kenya, but spiritually it was the God who helped through the race. It is for me great honour to win this race for Kingdom of God. This marathon was somehow very special for me. I was trying to control the race at the end observing the Chinese runner where she is. For the moment I do not know where will be my next marathon. Actually I feel now a cramp in my leg, it was very tough.
Silver - Chunxiu ZHOU, CHNThe last five km are always the most difficult. Our strategy was to follow the others. At the end, the last two km, my foot started to hurt. One week before coming to the championships I got hurt in China at the inner side of my right ankle. I got treatment and it got better. But this is one of the reasons why at the end I could not stick to Catherine Ndereba. The other reason is the weather here. Catherine was very strong today. It feels just ok to have the silver medal.
My preparation in China was not ideal. I did not train enough. Communication with my teammate during the race was going well.
Now, I will go back to China, have a rest. This was my last big competition for this year. In 2008, at the Olympic Games, everything will work in favour of me, because it is my home country.
Bronze - Reiko TOSA, JPN
In the final stage of the race I was able to come through because the cheering by fans around the course. They were really loud. I would like to thank them all. I'm relieved. I did not know whether I would be able to medal or not. But I was not going to give up. Although the pace was slow, I want to run aggresive race. I tried to stay in contact with the leader. My thought was on a medal hunt. I kept on telling myself that this is not an international championship race.
5th place - Lidia SIMON, ROM
I'm not very happy, because I had hoped to have a medal here, but top five is not bad. I had a plan to stay in front and keep the pace. When I started, I was not feeling very well. I was just tired maybe. I trained very hard for this race, and maybe I made a little mistake training too hard. The last 7K, I felt a cramp in my muscles and I couldn't push, but the last 2K, I felt more strong and I tried to catch somebody. I think I caught two or three.
This is my ninth time running in Osaka. At the world championships I have one gold and two bronze. Now I will hope for a medal in the Olympic Games. I will try very hard for Beijing.
6th Kiyoko SHIMAHARA JPN
I knew it was going to be a race of attrition. I just did not want to be the first to left behind the pack. Sudden change of the pace should not affect me. I though it will be better if I tried to keep with my rhythm and slowly bridge the gap when the pace quickens.
8th place - Edith MASAI, KEN
The competition was not bad but the problem is the weather and the humidity. It's my first time to run the world championship marathon, so it's very difficult for me.
It's very nice to win the World Cup. That is one gold, and Ndereba is the champion, so that's two golds for us. We are very happy about it.
(On Kenya's performance in Osaka:) It's very good, and I hope we will have more medals, in the 5000 metres and the 800 metres.
