| Name |
Paula Radcliffe |
| Height |
5 ft 8 in |
| Naionality |
English |
| Date of Birth |
17-December-1973 |
| Place of Birth |
Davenham, Cheshire, England |
| Famous for |
Long-Distance Running |
Paula Radcliffe is an English long-distance runner. She is the current women's world record holder in the marathon with her time of 2:15:25 hours. She is a three-time winner of the London Marathon (2002, 2003, 2005), three-time New York Marathon champion (2004, 2007, 2008), and won the 2002 Chicago Marathon.
Radcliffe is a former world champion in the marathon, half marathon and cross country. She has also been European champion over 10,000 meters and in cross country. On the track, Radcliffe won the 10,000 meters silver medal at the 1999 World Championships and was the 2002 Commonwealth champion at 5000 meters. She has represented Great Britain at the Olympics four times consecutively (1996 to 2008), but has not won a medal on the Olympic stage. Radcliffe's 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 5,000 m, including fifth place in both the 1995 World Championships and 1996 Olympic Games. Although a silver-medalist in the 1999 World Championships in Athletics Radcliffe finished out of the medals at the 2000 Olympic Games and 2001 World Championships. She won back-to-back titles in the 2000 and 2001 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships, and winning a third title in 2003. Radcliffe did not compete in the London Marathon in 2004, but was the favourite to win a gold medal in the marathon at the Olympic Games in Athens. However, she suffered an injury to her leg just two weeks prior to the event and had to use a high dose of anti-inflammatory drugs. This had an adverse effect on her stomach, hindering food absorption. She ended up withdrawing from the race after 36 km.
Five days later she started in the 10,000 metres but, still suffering from the effects of the marathon, retired with eight laps remaining. Radcliffe said "You go through bad stages in a marathon, but never as bad as that", "I've never before not been able to finish and I'm desperately trying to find a reason for what happened", "I just feel numb - this is something I worked so hard for." Regarded as Great Britain's best gold medal hope in athletics, her withdrawal made headlines in the UK, with editorial stances ranging from support to negativity, with some newspapers deriding Radcliffe for 'quitting', rather than going on to finish the race. Television pictures showed Radcliffe in a clearly distressed state after dropping out of the marathon, being comforted by two friends from her early running days She set the 2011 Berlin Marathon as her comeback venue to try for an Olympic qualifying time. She came third in the race with a time of 2:23:46 hours – getting the Olympic standard and the fourth fastest time by a European that year. She was dissatisfied, however, saying: "I'm not particularly happy, either with my time or my place. I came here wanting to win".
She used the 2012 Vienna Half Marathon to gauge her fitness and the race was set up as a battle between her and Haile Gebrselassie, with Radcliffe received a head start of 7:52 minutes (the difference between the two athletes' personal bests). She did not perform well and was comfortably beaten by the Ethiopian, while she crossed the line after 72:03 minutes. Radcliffe pulled out of London 2012 Olympics because of a foot injury.
