Constantina had an outstanding year in 2008, winning the gold medal for the marathon at the Beijing Olympics, and in the process becoming the oldest Olympic marathon champion ever at the age of 39.
The AIMS/ASICS World Athlete of the Year Awards were founded in 1992 and are decided each year by way of nominations made by the member races of the world body The Association of International Marathons & Distance Races (AIMS). The membership totals some 260 races in over 85 countries covering every continent of the world.
Previous winners of the AIMS/ASICS World Athlete of the Year Award include Liz McColgan (Scotland), Uta Pippig (Germany), Tegla Loroupe (Kenya), Naoko Takahashi (Japan), Catherine Ndereba (Kenya) Paula Radcliffe (England), Mizuki Noguchi (Japan) and Lornah Kiplagat (Netherlands).
Hiroaki Chosa, World President of AIMS comments: “It is an honour to recognise 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 comments: “It is a fantastic feeling to be honoured 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. I am really looking forward to this weekend’s race in Tokyo.’ |
