Welcome to today's Olympic story, this is Zhengyun reporting from Beijing.
Age is a big challenge for all athletes; the older one gets, the harder it becomes for athletes to excel and reach their peak performance - especially in grueling Olympic marathon races.
The Beijing Olympics has perhaps reversed trend for the best, this year there have been three mothers over 35 in Marathon running alone. A true and fitting image of what the Olympic spirit should bring.
38 year old Constantina Tomescu from Romania gave a proud reply to those who announced the end of her athletic career three years ago, when she finished the race as a champion. This mother of one has been long troubled by serious injuries but her family's support has made her today's heroine. As a mother, she missed her son a lot:
"Tomorrow he starts going to school. I am not with him for the first day for the school. For me, it's very hard."
Another mother, silver medalist Catherine Ndereba of Kenya, also gained great support from her family during her 20 years of professional competing. Ever after her daughter was born in 1997, she did not give up competing on the track. She said she can feel the encouragement of her daughter during the competition.
"Especially when I think of her, I know for sure I can do as much as I could and make sure I can get the medal."
British runner Paula Radcliffe was forced to stop running mid-way of the Beijing marathon due to sudden recurrent injury. However, out of everyone's expectation, after a short break, she continued the race and completed the whole journey. She said her kids have been the source of strength.
"The kids were sitting behind watching TV. I really felt that I was in good shape to run OK, but my leg didn't allow me to."
Although Paula Radcliffe finished 23rd in the race, like her and other mothers in the Olympics, it's not the winning that counts but taking part in the greatest sporting event in history that matters most
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