Rosa MOTA

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Portugal

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Photo/Foto: George Herringshaw

Date: 05 August 1984

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- DATE OF BIRTH
  Sunday, 29 June 1958
- PLACE OF BIRTH
  Foz do Douro, Portugal.

INTERNATIONAL
Portugal
- Event(s)
  Marathon
- Championship Performances
  Olympics: 1984 bronze Marathon, 1988 Gold Marathon.
  Worlds: 1987 Gold Marathon.
  European: 1982, 1986 & 1990 Gold Marathon.

Rosa MOTA - Portugal - Biography of her International marathon career.

Female athletes were denied the opportunity of contesting the marathon at major international championships until the event was introduced at the 1982 European Championships. This was quickly followed by its introduction at the inaugural World Championships in 1983 and the Olympic Games in 1984. One athlete who took advantage of these opportunities was Rosa Mota, and it could be argued that without the marathon, she would never have won a medal at a major international event. Up until 1982, Mota was well known in Portugal, having won a number of Portuguese middle distance and cross country titles, and set a number of national records, but she was virtually unknown in international circles before she entered the marathon at the 1982 European Championships in Athens.

This was Mota's first marathon and she was up against a number of much more experienced athletes, like Norway's Ingrid Kristiansen, who had recorded fast times in big city marathons in North America. However, it was Mota who won the gold medal in Athens, in 2hr 36min 04sec from Laura Fogli (Italy) and Kristiansen. On 9 April the following year, Mota won her second marathon at Rotterdam, lowering her personal best to 2hr 32min 27sec. In August that year she finished fourth, behind Grete Waitz (Norway) in the marathon at the inaugural World Championships in Helsinki. Two months later Mota reduced her personal best to 2hr 31min 12sec, when she was the winner of the Chicago marathon. On 5 August 1984, the Los Angeles Olympic marathon was held in oppressively hot conditions, but still produced some high quality times, with Mota winning the bronze medal (see photo above) in 2hr 26min 57sec, over four minutes better than her previous personal best. (Ron Casey)

Second at European championship in 1986. 26th August.

Rosa Mota's first five marathons had resulted in a gold medal at the 1982 European Championships, a bronze medal at the 1984 Olympics, a fourth place at the 1983 World Championships, and victories in both the 1983 Rotterdam and Chicago races. More significantly, after her debut marathon time of 2hr 36min 04sec, Mota had reduced her personal best in each of her subsequent four marathons. Two months after winning the bronze medal at the 1984 Olympics, Mota won the Chicago marathon for the second year in succession, with another new personal best time of 2hr 26min 01sec. Mota only ran one marathon in 1985, at Chicago on 20 October. Attempting to win for the third successive year, Mota finished third behind Joan Benoit (USA) and Ingrid Kristiansen (Norway), but her time was a lifetime best of 2hr 23min 29sec, and only Kristiansen and Benoit had ever run faster.

Earlier in the year, Mota had honed up her track skills, recording personal bests of 15min 22.97sec over 5000m at Oslo on 27 June, and 32min 33.51 sec for 10000m at the Bislett Games in Oslo a month later. In March 1986, Rosa further demonstrated her versatility by finishing fifth in the world cross-country championships in Neuchatel, Switzerland. Mota's primary goal in 1986 was winning the marathon at the European Championships in Stuttgart on 26 August. Attempting to defend the title she had won four years earlier, Rosa turned the race into a walkover, taking the lead at about 10km, and gradually extending her advantage to over four minutes at the finish (see photo above photo George Herringshaw ©), which she reached in 2hr 28min 38sec. Mota finished off the year with a win in the Tokyo marathon on 16 November, again by over four minutes in 2hr 27min 15sec. (Ron Casey)

World Marathon Champion. 29th August 1987.

Between the time that the women's marathon was first introduced in a major international competition at the 1982 European Championships to the end of 1986, four women had dominated the event at the international level. One of these was Portugal's Rosa Mota who had won both the 1982 and 1986 European titles. The other three were Grete Waitz (Norway), who had won the 1983 world title, Joan Benoit (USA), the 1984 Olympic gold medallist, and Ingrid Kristiansen (Norway) who had recorded the fastest time ever run at the 1985 London marathon. Despite her two European titles, Mota was still regarded as the junior member of the foursome, due the greater successes at the global level that the others had achieved.

This was a situation which Mota looked forward to rectifying at the 1987 World Championships in Rome. However, the expected confrontation didn't occur at Rome as Kristiansen decided to only contest the 10000m, Benoit was expecting a baby, and Waitz was injured. On paper, this appeared to hand the race to Mota on a platter, but the task would not be easy, as the marathon in Rome on 29 August was held over a difficult course and in 73% humidity. Seemingly oblivious to the conditions, Mota was already in the lead as they exited the stadium and started to pull away from the field after 5km. Lisa Martin (Australia) tried to stay in contact, but she eventually pulled out after 26km, a victim of the weather conditions and Mota's relentless pace. As the rest of the field struggled, Mota drew further away, eventually winning the gold medal in 2hr 25min 17sec. In one of the greatest decimations of an international field ever witnessed, Rosa was well into her post-race celebrations (see photo above) before the second placegetter finished a whopping 7min 21sec later. (Ron Casey)

Friday September 23rd 1988 and a second Olympic marathon Gold Medal for Rosa.

Following her wins in the marathon at the 1986 European Championships and the 1987 World Championships, Rosa Mota's goal in 1988 was to win the gold medal at the Olympic Games in Seoul, to become the first athlete, male or female, to simultaneously hold the Olympic, World and European marathon titles. Mota contested only one marathon that year prior to Seoul, winning her second successive Boston marathon on 18 April by nearly five minutes in 2hr 24min 30sec. At the start of the marathon in Seoul on 23 September, the 69 entrants had a daunting task ahead of them, made more difficult than normal by an undulating course, high humidity (92%), and distinct lack of shade. Although Mota was the favourite, she did not employ the tactics she had used in her recent races of running away from the field, but was instead content to stay within the leading pack, which was sharing the pace-making duties.

Despite the adverse conditions, the leading pack set a solid pace throughout, whittling its size down by attrition from 21 at 10km, to 13 at 20km, and to just four at 30km. This foursome, consisting of Mota, Lisa Martin (Australia), Katrin Dorre (East Germany) and Tatyana Polovinskaya (Soviet Union), were still together at 36km, but the pace soon after became too much for Polovinskaya and the group was reduced to only three. At 38km, Mota started to slowly move away from Martin and Dorre, and by 40km Rosa had a 14 second lead. She maintained this advantage to the finish, winning the gold medal (see photo above - taken by G Herringshaw ©) in 2hr 25min 40sec, thirteen seconds ahead of Martin. At this point in her career Mota had won ten of her thirteen marathons, including the last six in a row. (Ron Casey)

Third European Championship Marathon gold medal on 29th August 1990.

By the end of 1988, Rosa Mota had established a consistency in international marathons rarely seen in such a gruelling and variable event. She had won 10 of her 13 marathons including the last six in a row, and was the reigning Olympic, World and European champion. However, this consistency started to show cracks in 1989 when she failed to finish at Osaka in January, and finished second in Los Angeles in March in a rather modest (by her standards) time of 2hr 35min 27sec. However, this seemed to be only a temporary glitch, as Mota bounced back the next year to win at Osaka in 2hr 27min 47sec on 28 January, followed by her third Boston marathon victory on 16 April in the year's fastest time of 2hr 25min 24sec. At the 1990 European Championships in Split on 27 August, Mota employed the same tactics she had used at the 1987 World Championships, opening up a 10 second lead before the runners had left the stadium, and gradually increasing it as she ran away from the field.

Mota led Valentina Yegorova (Soviet Union) by 1min 43sec at 20km, but soon after Rosa's pace began to drop, resulting from the heat and her own relentless pace. Closing rapidly, Yegorova had reduced the gap to 39sec at 30km, and then caught Mota 5km later. At this point, the class and fighting spirit of Mota took over. Despite her tiredness, Rosa put in a tactical burst which reopened a sizeable gap that Yegorova was unable to close. Mota went on to win her third European title (see George Herringshaw's © photo above) with Yegorova just 5 seconds behind. In 1991, Mota won the World Cup marathon in London, but then dropped out at 26km in the World Championships in Tokyo with abdominal pains. She retired after failing to finish her last marathon in London in April 1992. (Ron Casey)