Marathon: Deena Kastor's bad break

BEIJING -- Deena Kastor of Mammoth Lakes, who was unable to finish Sunday's marathon, has a broken bone in her right foot.

Jill Geer, a spokeswoman for USA Track and Field, said X-rays found the injury after Kastor mentioned feeling something pop in her foot about 5 kilometers into the marathon.

Kastor, who grew up in Agoura Hills, won a bronze medal in the Athens marathon and has been praised as a role model by many of the rising distance runners on the U.S. track and field team.

-- Helene Elliott

Comments

[Brent]

I'm so sad for Ms. Kastor. She was wonderful to watch in the movie, the Spirit of the Marathon, in which she and others were tracked en route to competing in the 2005 Chicago Marathon. Coincidentally, in that race, Kastor won by holding off a late charge by Constantina Tomescu-Dita, winner of the women's Olympic marathon.

[Tom]

Watching these runners, particularly the women, I can't help but notice how thin and emaciated they seem. Kastor looks noticeably frail, and it appears that this injury was a metatarsal stress fracture - a sign of the female athlete triad (amenorrhea, eating disorder, and osteoporosis). I have to wonder what long-term health issues these athletes have to look forward to, and whether we shouldn't be questioning the glorification of these athletes.