Paula Radcliffe

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Image:Paula radcliffe.jpg

Paula Jane Radcliffe, MBE (born December 17, 1973) is a British long-distance runner. She is the current world record holder for the women's marathon, which she set during the 2003 London Marathon, with a time of 2:15.25.

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Early career

Radcliffe was born in Northwich, Cheshire but she grew up in Bedfordshire and is a member of Bedford Athletic Club. She studied French, German and economics at Loughborough University. Her early running success was in cross country events, including the 1992 World Junior title, beating Wang Junxia. She missed the 1994 season through injury, but came back with a succession of good results at 5000 m, including fifth place in both the 1995 World Championships and 1996 Olympic Games. However, Radcliffe seemed destined never to win a major 5,000 m or 10,000 m title, finishing out of the medals again at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

Radcliffe is not known for her sprint finish, and so to win a race must attack and leave her competitors behind, as was seen in the 10,000 metres at the 2000 Olympic Games when she finished fourth despite leading for 24 laps out of 25.

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Later career

In 2002, Radcliffe made the move up to the marathon, a decision that immediately paid off with victory at that year's London Marathon. Later that year, Radcliffe set a world record time of 2:17:18 in the Chicago Marathon on October 13, 2002, breaking the previous record by over a minute. She broke the record again in London marathon in April 2003, with a time of 2:15:25 . She has also won the New York Marathon. Of the seven marathons Radcliffe has run so far she has won six, building up a claim to be the best female distance runner of all time. She has run four out of the five fastest times in history in the women's marathon (fourth place being held by Catherine Ndereba).

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2004 Olympics

Radcliffe did not compete in the London Marathon in 2004, but was the favourite to win the gold medal in the marathon at that year's Olympic Games. However, she suffered an injury to her leg just two weeks prior to the event, and was forced to use a high dose of anti-inflammatory drugs. Unfortunately, these had an adverse effect on her stomach and resulted in food failing to be absorbed. This in turn resulted in a lack of energy and carbohydrates in her system before the start of the race, and led to her distressing withdrawal after 36 km. Five days later she started in the 10,000 metres but, still suffering from the effects of the marathon, was forced to retire with eight laps remaining.

Due to being regarded as Great Britain's best gold medal hope in athletics, her failures made headlines in the UK. She was strongly criticised in sections of the media for pulling out of both races and was labelled a "quitter". While there was widespread disappointment and confusion at her failure to finish the race, other commentators were sympathetic given the gruelling and unpredictable nature of endurance events such as the marathon.

Radcliffe herself was well aware of the public's expectations of her and was emotionally devastated after the Marathon. She shed tears in a live interview on the BBC two days after the Marathon, saying that she felt she had "let everyone else down."

Image:Paula Radcliffe London marathon 2005.jpg

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Post 2004 Olympics

She made a strong comeback in her next competitive marathon, winning the 2004 New York Marathon in a time of 2 hours 23 minutes 10 seconds after a close finish during which she took a decisive lead over Kenya's Susan Chepkemei only at the very end. At the 2005 London Marathon she won with a time of 2 hours 17 minutes 42 seconds, although the victory was overshadowed in some parts of the British media by her need to take an al-fresco "toilet break" mid-race.

On August 14 2005 she won her first gold medal at a major championships when she took the marathon title at the World Championships in Helsinki, Finland, dominating the race and setting a championship record time of 2 hours, 20 minutes and 57 seconds. For the same race, she and the other three British runners took third place in the team competition.

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Other achievements and awards

Radcliffe also holds the world records for 10, 20 and 30 km on roads. She twice won gold at the World Cross-Country championships (in 2001 and 2002), and in December 2003 became European Cross-Country champion for the second time, the only woman to have achieved this feat in the event's ten-year history. Forced out of the Paris World Athletics Championships because of injury in 2003, her greatest moment on the track has been European gold at 10,000 m in 2002. She has proved herself a good runner at distances as low as 5000 m, too, running 14:31.42, just three seconds behind the world record, to win gold at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

She was awarded an MBE in June 2002, and later in the year became the BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

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Anti doping

Radcliffe's athletic ability and commitment to training are accompanied by a strong belief in playing by the rules. She has frequently made high-profile condemnations of performance-enhancing drugs in athletics, most famously at the World Athletics Championships in Edmonton in 2001 when Radcliffe and team-mate Hayley Tullett held up a sign protesting against the reinstatement of Russian athlete Olga Yegorova, after Yegorova had tested positive for the banned substance EPO. Radcliffe also wears a red ribbon when competing to show her support for blood testing as a method of catching drugs cheats.

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Achievements

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Personal bests

  • 400 m - 58.9
  • 800 m - 2:05.22
  • 1000 m - 2:47.17
  • 1500 m - 4:05.37
  • 1 mi - 4:24.94
  • 2000 m - 5:37.01+
  • 3000 m - 8:22.20
  • 2 mi - 9:17.4
  • 4000 m - 11:35.21+
  • 5000 m - 14:29.11
  • 10,000 m - 30:01.09
  • 5 km road - 14:48+ (unofficial WR)
  • 4 mi road - 19:51+
  • 5 mi road - 24:47+
  • 8 km road - 24:05+ (unofficial WR)
  • 10 km road - 30:21 (WR)
  • 15 km road - 46:41+ (WR)
  • 10 mi road - 50:01+ (WR)
  • 20 km road - 1:02.21+ (WR)
  • Half Marathon - 1:05:40 (WR)
  • 25 km road - 1:20:36+ (WR)
  • 30 km road - 1:36:36+ (WR)
  • 20 mi road - 1:43:33+ (WR)
  • Marathon - 2:15:25 (WR)
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Bibliography

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See also

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External links

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