Beijing - Constantina Tomescu of Romania won the gold medal in the Beijing Olympics marathon as world record holder Paula Radcliffe flopped again on the big stage. Tomescu, 36, raced away from her rivals at the halfway mark and never looked back en route to victory in comfortably cool conditions and light drizzle at times in 2 hours 26 minutes 44 seconds.
The reigning world champion Catherine Ndereba of Kenya took silver as in 2004, clocking 2:27:06. The bronze went to China's Zhou Chunxi in 2:27.07.
Tomescu is the first European woman to win the Olympic marathon since Valentina Yegorova's success 1992 in Barcelona.
Her biggest claim to fame until Sunday was victory in the 2004 Chicago marathon, two podium finishes each in London and Chicago and third place at the 2005 worlds.
The 2005 world champion Radcliffe, who was coming into the race off a stress fracture, flopped again at the Olympics after failing to finish in Athens 2004.
Radcliffe had to step aside for a quick "pit stop" just as Tomescu made her move halfway through the race from Tiananmen Square through Beijing to the National Stadium.
She cramped late in the race far behind the leader but gritted her teeth and hobbled across the finish line in 23rd place, almost six minutes behind the winner in 2:32:38 hours.
The 2006 London winner Deena Kastor had to retire early on with a foot injury and Japanese ace Reiko Tosa, the world championship bronze medallist, also failed to live up to expectations.
