Constantina Dita (ASICS) has done quite a few interviews since arriving in Osaka ten days ago. She had expected Mizuki Noguchi, who also was training in Boulder for the past ten weeks prepping for Osaka, to be back on form for Sunday’s Osaka International Women’s Marathon. That is, until Mizuki suddenly withdraw from the race this week with an inflamed . Brett Larimer of Japan Running News provides a translation of one of the articles that appeared in the January 24th from Sankei Sports newspaper. Click here for Brett’s translation, and click here for the original Japanese-language post, which includes a photo of Constantina opening the Osaka athlete’s village on Monday.
Mizuki Noguchi
Constantina Dita arrives in Osaka
Constantina (left) with 2004 Olympic champ Mizuki Noguchi (center) and 2000 Olympic champ Naoko Takahashi (right) on a chilly morning at the Boulder Reservoir last week (Photo by Boulder Wave, Inc. All rights reserved.)
Reigning Olympic marathon champ Constantina Dita (ASICS) arrived in Osaka today for her final fine-tuning before the January 29th Osaka International Women’s Marathon. Accompanied by her sister/coach, Elisaveta, Constantina wanted to do her final training at sea level, after preparing in her US hometown of Erie, Colorado, throughout the past three winter months. “The preparation has been good, and I feel it is better than anything I have done the past two years. In Osaka, the main priority is to make my qualification for the Romanian team for this summer’s London Olympic Games. I have heard the lead group in Osaka will go about 71 minutes for the first half; to be honest, this is a bit too fast for me. I hope to run 2:28-2:30 and make the top eight in Osaka. Before the Beijing Olympics also I made my final training in Osaka, so I am comfortable there. I am planning the same pattern this year as I did in 2008: Osaka in January, the Virgin London Marathon in April, and then the Olympic Games.”
