“Little Rosa” Will Be Thinking Big on November 6
Her father used to call her “my little Rosa Mota,” and it was easy to understand why. Through her many running achievements up to the half-marathon distance, Jéssica Augusto promised much for the day when she would turn to the marathon.
Augusto is from Portugal, a country with a rich tradition in the marathon: Carlos Lopes held the world record and won the 1984 Olympic marathon; Manuela Machado was a world and double European champion in the 1990s; Antonio Pinto won the London Marathon three times; and Mota was the 1988 Olympic champion, the 1987 world champion, a three-time European champion, and a three-time Boston winner.
At 29, Augusto has eclipsed Mota’s best times from 3000 meters to the half-marathon. In her marathon debut, in London in April, she clocked 2:24:33, just over a minute slower than Mota’s fastest. Her second marathon will be in New York.
“I said to my father: ‘I am only one minute away from when you have to stop calling me ‘my little Rosa Mota,’” says Augusto. “I used to say to him, ‘I’m going to be better than Rosa Mota.’ It was like a joke.” But Arnaldo Augusto will not see the day, if it comes, when his daughter turns joke into reality. Cancer took his life earlier this year.
“It was my father who took me to my first training and my first races,” says Jéssica. “He gave me a lot of support.” His name is tattooed on her right arm.
Augusto, who finished seventh (1:10:00) in the NYC Half in March, was the 2010 European Cross Country champion in Albufeira, Portugal. “It was a special win because I was at home,” she recalls. “Now I find a huge difference in my popularity in Portugal.”
A win in New York would raise her profile even higher. “It would be extremely important for my career,” she says.
