Mariana Diaz Ximenez

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Mariana Diaz Ximenez (born December 13, 1983, in Baucau) is an East Timorese long-distance runner who competes mainly in the marathon. She lives in Dili and left East Timor in 1999 after its declaration of independence and the violence that followed; she later returned to Dili and recalls seeing the harbor filled with dead bodies. In 2001 she won a gold medal in the marathon at the Arafura Games in Australia. She represented East Timor at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, running the marathon. Diaz tried to qualify for the 2004 Athens Olympics and later became one of two Timor-Leste athletes at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where she did not finish the marathon.