Mota, Rosa (1958—)

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Mota, Rosa (1958—)

Distance runner who was the first Portuguese athlete to become a world champion in an Olympic sport and won the gold medal for the marathon at the 1988 Seoul games. Born on June 29, 1958, in the northern town of Foz do Douro near the city of Oporto, Portugal. Won the Olympic bronze medal for the marathon at Los Angeles (1984); won the Olympic gold medal in the marathon at Seoul (1988).

Rosa Mota was born on June 29, 1958, in the northern Portuguese town of Foz do Douro near the city of Oporto. At 14, she began running, mainly "for my health and to have fun," she said. Even when Mota became an athlete of international stature, she tried to run for pleasure. She gained national prominence as a teenager by winning the Portuguese championship for both the 1,500 and 3,000 meters in 1975 and 1976. In the process, she established a new national record for the 3,000 meters and then bettered it six times.

Physically stronger by the early 1980s, she began devoting herself to longer races, including the marathon, and quickly became a star on the international marathon circuit. She won the European championship in 1982, finished third in the Los Angeles Olympics behind front-runner Joan Benoit Samuelson , triumphed in the 1987 World championship, and won the gold medal at the 1988 Seoul games. In so doing, she became the first Portuguese athlete to win a medal at the Olympic games and the first Portuguese woman to win the gold. Mota won the Boston marathon three times and was twice named Female Runner of the Year by Runner's World. From 1987 to 1991, she was the dominant female marathoner in the world. Her stature and winnings allowed her to move to Boulder, Colorado, a training center for many world-class athletes. One of the favorites to win the women's marathon in the Barcelona Olympic games, she failed to win a medal.

Mota's races often entailed detailed strategy in addition to her superb physical conditioning. For the 1988 Olympic Games, for example, she and her longtime coach and companion, José Pedrosa, studied the course and picked a precise point at a down-slope less than three miles from the finish where she was to burst from the pack of lead runners. During the race, Mota followed the strategy perfectly, breaking away from Australian Lisa Martin and East German Katrin Dörre to win the gold medal.

Her achievements did not come without impediments. When Mota began running as a youth in Portugal, people did not know how to react to a young woman running alone in the streets. Men jeered her and told her she ought to be "at home doing the housework." Even after she became an international star, the Portuguese track-and-field federation tried to control her racing. The marathon is so draining that to stay in top form a runner can participate in only a few races each year. Strong-willed, Mota set her own racing schedule and sometimes did not include the Portuguese or European championships, preferring to concentrate on events of more prestige or bigger prizes. On occasion, the Portuguese federation threatened not to sanction her participation unless she cooperated by running in events they stipulated. In 1987, for example, the federation suspended her for four months and reprimanded her. Stated one Portuguese functionary in the federation's defense: "In any country an athlete has to represent the nation when called to do so." Nonetheless, Mota eventually prevailed in such disputes.

Barely over five feet tall and weighing around 100 pounds in her athletic prime, Mota refused to judge her races by the clock: "I don't measure my races by fastest times but by my effort." Rather than running against the clock, she instead competed with other athletes and with her own physical condition. "For me," she said, "medals are more important than times. Because medals stay forever. Times change." She attempted to achieve the maximum performance possible on a given day and course rather than worry about setting world records in the marathon. Thus, she was satisfied with a slow time in adverse weather or course conditions if she had raced wisely and competed at a peak level. Further elaborating on her approach to running, Mota noted: "I always try to run an easy pace. I like to finish strong. I don't like to finish tired. I never finish and think I can't do more. I like to think I always have more in me."