from the Associated Press
Tomescu-Dita pulled away from the lead pack near the halfway mark Sunday to win by 22 seconds over her nearest challenger.
Reigning world champion Catherine Ndereba of Kenya outsprinted China’s Zhou Chunxiu for the silver to the disappointment of the roaring crowd at National Stadium. Still, the bronze was China’s first medal in track and field. Another Chinese runner, Zhu Xiaolin, was fourth.
The 26.2-mile race was expected to be the biggest test yet of what impact Beijing’s polluted skies and muggy heat would have on the Olympic endurance events. Instead, the weather provided the runners with relief. Gray morning skies replaced the blue of the previous two days with a light rain falling at times and a start-time temperature of 73 degrees.
The 38-year-old Tomescu-Dita won in 2 hours, 26 minutes, 44 seconds. Ndereba, a pre-race favorite, finished in 2:27:06, one second ahead of Zhou.
It was the second consecutive Olympic silver medal for Ndereba. At 36, she may not get another chance.
“I’m not disappointed,” she said. “Disappointed is not in my vocabulary when I’m doing this.”
Tomescu-Dita, the 2005 world championship bronze medalist, blew kisses to the crowd and raised her arms in triumph as she crossed the finish line.
World record-holder Paula Radcliffe of Britain, who decided to race in her fourth straight Olympics only earlier this week because she is recovering from a stress fracture in her thigh, struggled to finish 23rd, nearly six minutes behind the winner.
She stayed with the leaders through the early stages but faded from there. Not far from the finish she walked to the railing and stretched, then walked back onto the course and began to run.
“I’m not sure what happened,” she said of her pain, which she described as if someone were kicking her foot. She said she didn’t know whether it was a cramp, or her body compensating for the injury.
She kept running, she said, because, “it’s horrible when you have to drop out” — as she knows from the 2004 Athens Games.
The start time was set at 7:30 a.m. Beijing time, to avoid humidity and heat later in the day. Eighty runners took off from near the vast expanse of Tiananmen Square, the heart of China’s capital city.
Thousands of students lined the start, waving Chinese and Olympic flags and pounding yellow, green and pink noisemakers shaped like hands.
Police were stationed every 10 yards between fans and racers, their backs to the race. Tiananmen has been a stage for small protests against China’s human rights record.
The pack ran south around the Forbidden City, then stretched out as the runners pushed northward to the National Stadium.
It was on those streets that Tomescu-Dita ran away from the rest to lead by more than a minute through the race’s later stages.
She steadily increased her lead from there. Until near the end — and by then, it was too late.
“I pushed hard and wanted my gold medal,” she said. “I was looking back the whole time.”
Tomescu-Dita was halfway around the final lap in the Bird’s Nest when Ndereba and Zhou entered the stadium, the Kenyan slightly ahead.
The surge of the crowd’s roar seemed to propel Zhou, and she passed Ndereba with half a lap to go — just as Tomescu-Dita was raising her hands in anticipation of crossing the finish line.
But, encouragement notwithstanding, Zhou couldn’t hold on. She fell back a bit by the home stretch and crossed one second behind the Kenyan. The crowd fell into sudden silence.
American record-holder Deena Kastor, the bronze medalist four years ago in Athens, pulled out just over three miles into the race with an injured right foot. The only American to finish was Blake Russell — she came in 27th, finishing in 2:33:13. Magda Lewy pulled out due to a hurt knee.
Kastor said she had experienced soreness for the past week and “felt something pop.”
The 35-year-old went to one knee in pain, then limped off the course.
“As athletes, we have ups and downs,” Kastor said. “Unfortunately, you can’t pick the days they come on.”
AP Sports Writer Pat Graham contributed to this report.
