# Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's marathon

The women's marathon at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place on August 17 around an urban circuit specifically designed for the competition at Beijing, and finished in the Beijing National Stadium; it was, as of today, the last time in Summer Olympics history in which women's marathon route start and/or finish was located in the Olympic Stadium. The qualifying standards were 2:37.00 (A standard) and 2:42.00 (B standard). There were a total number of 82 competitors from 42 nations.
The winner was Constantina Diṭă-Tomescu of Romania who at one point took a lead of over a minute and maintained it ahead of the chasing pack all the way into the stadium. She completed the marathon in a time of 2:26:44. In second place was Catherine Ndereba of Kenya who completed the race in 2:27:06, closely followed by bronze medalist Zhou Chunxiu of China who finished in a time of 2:27:07.
World record holder Paula Radcliffe of Great Britain took part in the race despite injury problems that bothered her throughout the previous year. However, she did not feature for much of the race and had to pause and do some exercises to rid herself of cramps at one point. She then proceeded to finish the marathon in 23rd place in a time of 2:32:38.

## Records

Prior to this event, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows:
| World record | Paula Radcliffe (GBR) | 2:15:25 | London, United Kingdom | 13 April 2003 |
| Olympic record | Naoko Takahashi (JPN) | 2:23:14 | Sydney, Australia | 24 September 2000 |

## Schedule

All times are China standard time (UTC+8)
| Date | Time | Round |
| Sunday, 17 August 2008 | 07:30 | Final |

## Results

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Result | Notes |
| | Constantina Diță | Romania | 2:26:44 | SB |
| | Catherine Ndereba | Kenya | 2:27:06 | |
| | Zhou Chunxiu | China | 2:27:07 | SB |
| 4 | Zhu Xiaolin | China | 2:27:16 | SB |
| 5 | Martha Komu | Kenya | 2:27:23 | |
| 6 | Mara Yamauchi | Great Britain | 2:27:29 | |
| 7 | Irina Timofeyeva | Russia | 2:27:31 | |
| 8 | Lidia Șimon | Romania | 2:27:51 | |
| 9 | Souad Aït Salem | Algeria | 2:28:29 | |
| 10 | Salina Jebet Kosgei | Kenya | 2:29:28 | |
| 11 | Živilė Balčiūnaitė | Lithuania | 2:29:33 | |
| 12 | Kim Kum-Ok | North Korea | 2:30:01 | SB |
| 13 | Yurika Nakamura | Japan | 2:30:19 | |
| 14 | Anna Incerti | Italy | 2:30:55 | PB |
| 15 | Dire Tune | Ethiopia | 2:31:16 | |
| 16 | Nina Rillstone | New Zealand | 2:31:16 | |
| 17 | Bruna Genovese | Italy | 2:31:31 | |
| 18 | Luminiţa Talpoş | Romania | 2:31:41 | |
| 19 | Madaí Pérez | Mexico | 2:31:47 | |
| 20 | Christelle Daunay | France | 2:31:48 | |
| 21 | Benita Johnson | Australia | 2:32:06 | |
| 22 | Svetlana Zakharova | Russia | 2:32:16 | |
| 23 | Paula Radcliffe | Great Britain | 2:32:38 | |
| 24 | Monika Drybulska | Poland | 2:32:39 | SB |
| 25 | Lee Eun-Jung | South Korea | 2:33:07 | |
| 26 | Liz Yelling | Great Britain | 2:33:12 | |
| 27 | Blake Russell | United States | 2:33:13 | |
| 28 | Beata Naigambo | Namibia | 2:33:29 | |
| 29 | Vincenza Sicari | Italy | 2:33:31 | |
| 30 | Dorota Gruca | Poland | 2:33:32 | |
| 31 | Tetyana Filonyuk | Ukraine | 2:33:35 | |
| 32 | Marisa Barros | Portugal | 2:34:08 | |
| 33 | Lisa Jane Weightman | Australia | 2:34:16 | |
| 34 | Kirsten Melkevik Otterbu | Norway | 2:34:35 | |
| 35 | Liza Hunter-Galvan | New Zealand | 2:34:51 | |
| 36 | Jong Yong-Ok | North Korea | 2:34:52 | |
| 37 | Rasa Drazdauskaitė | Lithuania | 2:35:09 | |
| 38 | Melanie Kraus | Germany | 2:35:17 | |
| 39 | María Portillo | Peru | 2:35:19 | NR |
| 40 | Helalia Johannes | Namibia | 2:35:22 | |
| 41 | Shujing Zhang | China | 2:35:35 | |
| 42 | Lucia Kimani | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 2:35:47 | NR |
| 43 | Sandra Ruales | Ecuador | 2:35:53 | PB |
| 44 | Kate Smyth | Australia | 2:36:10 | |
| 45 | Yesenia Centeno | Spain | 2:36:25 | |
| 46 | Ana Dias | Portugal | 2:36:25 | |
| 47 | Nebiat Habtemariam | Eritrea | 2:37:03 | |
| 48 | Jo Bun-Hui | North Korea | 2:37:04 | |
| 49 | Tabitha Tsatsa | Zimbabwe | 2:37:10 | |
| 50 | Bahar Doğan | Turkey | 2:37:12 | PB |
| 51 | Marily dos Santos | Brazil | 2:38:10 | |
| 52 | Susanne Hahn | Germany | 2:38:31 | |
| 53 | Chae Eun-Hee | South Korea | 2:38:52 | |
| 54 | Alessandra Aguilar | Spain | 2:39:29 | |
| 55 | Patricia Rétiz | Mexico | 2:39:34 | |
| 56 | Lee Sun-Young | South Korea | 2:43:23 | |
| 57 | Eva-Maria Gradwohl | Austria | 2:44:24 | |
| 58 | Iuliia Andreeva | Kyrgyzstan | 2:44:41 | |
| 59 | Sonia Calizaya | Bolivia | 2:45:53 | |
| 60 | Eléni Dónta | Greece | 2:46:44 | |
| 61 | Karina Pérez | Mexico | 2:47:02 | |
| 62 | Bertha Sánchez | Colombia | 2:47:02 | |
| 63 | Pauline Curley | Ireland | 2:47:16 | |
| 64 | María José Pueyo | Spain | 2:48:01 | |
| 65 | Petra Teveli | Hungary | 2:48:32 | |
| 66 | Epiphanie Nyirabarame | Rwanda | 2:49:32 | |
| 67 | Zuzana Šaríková | Slovakia | 2:49:39 | |
| 68 | Gabriela Traña | Costa Rica | 2:53:45 | |
| 69 | Oksana Sklyarenko | Ukraine | 2:55:39 | |
| – | Berhane Adere | Ethiopia | DNF | |
| – | Gete Wami | Ethiopia | DNF | |
| – | Inês Monteiro | Portugal | DNF | |
| – | Valentina Delion | Moldova | DNF | |
| – | Reiko Tosa | Japan | DNF | |
| – | Olivera Jevtic | Serbia | DNF | |
| – | Galina Bogomolova | Russia | DNF | |
| – | Mariana Diaz Ximenez | East Timor | DNF | |
| – | Beáta Rakonczai | Hungary | DNF | |
| – | Mamorallo Tjoka | Lesotho | DNF | |
| – | Magdalena Lewy-Boulet | United States | DNF | |
| – | Deena Kastor | United States | DNF | |
| – | Nadia Ejjafini | Bahrain | DNS | |