March 20, 2009
Romania’s Olympic champion Constantina Dita has been awarded a top honor in world road running, the AIMS/ASICS World Athlete of the Year Award, during a ceremony on Thursday, March 19th, in Tokyo, Japan. Dita is in Japan this week as a guest of the Tokyo 2016 Olympic bid committee, and for events around this Sunday’s Tokyo Marathon.
In presenting the award, AIMS president Hiroaki Chosa noted that Constantina was mainly honored for winning the marathon gold medal at the Beijing Olympics last August. The gold medal capped a career that had already included gold, silver, and bronze medals in the world half-marathon championships; a bronze medal in the 2005 IAAF World Championships marathon; and six top-three finishes at World Marathon Major events (London, Chicago, Berlin, New York, Boston).
The AIMS/ASICS World Athlete of the Year Awards are decided each year by nominations made by the group’s member races, comprising 260 races in over 85 countries covering every continent of the world. Previous winners include Uta Pippig (Germany), Tegla Loroupe (Kenya), Naoko Takahashi (Japan), Catherine Ndereba (Kenya) Paula Radcliffe (England), Mizuki Noguchi (Japan) and Lornah Kiplagat (Netherlands). Constantina’s management firm, Boulder Wave, Inc., of Boulder, Colorado, supported the training of Japan’s Naoko Takahashi and Mizuki Noguchi in the years they each won the award.
Hiroaki Chosa commented: “It is an honor to recognize today the considerable achievements of Constantina Dita. Constantina had an outstanding year last year and proved at the Olympics that she is an athlete of the highest calibre; therefore, it is my pleasure to present her with this prestigious award on behalf of 260 members of AIMS from around the globe.”
Constantina Dita commented: “It is a fantastic feeling to be honored in this way, and to join a list of such esteemed winners is very special indeed. I would just like to say thank you to everyone involved. It is even more special to receive this award in Japan, where the marathon is such a respected event, and with the great history of marathon running by Japanese athletes.”
Attached photos:
Photo 1: World President of AIMS Hiroaki Chosa presents AIMS/ASICS World Athlete of the Year Constantina Dita with her award during a presentation at the Tokyo Marathon Expo in Japan. This photograph is copyright of AIMS (Association of International Marathons and Distance Races) and is available for use free of charge when promoting the Athlete of the Year Awards.
Photo 2: Constantina Dita and Coach Valeriu Tomescu display the 2008 AIMS/ASICS World Athlete of the Year award. Credit to Boulder Wave, Inc.
For further details, please contact Brendan Reilly in Tokyo at cell phone 011-81-90-4279-9352 (until March 23), or thereafter at office 303-554-0597, or via e-mail at boulderwave@comcast.net
