Paula Radcliffe

Paula Radcliffe

Personal information
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight	54 kg (119 lb; 8.5 st)
Sport
Country	Great Britain, England
Club	Bedford & County Athletic Club
Achievements and titles
Olympic finals	1996, 5000 m, 5th 2000, 10,000 m, 4th 2004, Marathon, DNF 2004, 10,000 m, DNF 2008, Marathon, 23rd
World finals	1993, 3000 m, 7th 1997, 5000 m, 4th 1999, 10,000 m,  Silver 2001, 10,000 m, 4th 2005, 10,000 m, 9th 2005, Marathon,  Gold
Highest world ranking	1
Personal best(s)	5000 m: 114:29.11 10,000 m: 130:01.09 Marathon: 12:15:25
Medal record Women's athletics World Championships 2005 Helsinki Marathon 1999 Seville 10000 m World Cross Country Championships 1992 Boston Junior race 2001 Ostend Long race 2002 Dublin Long race 1997 Turin Long race 1998 Marrakech Long race 2001 Ostend Short race 1999 Belfast Long race Commonwealth Games 2002 Manchester 5,000 m European Championships 2002 Munich 10000 m European Cross Country Championships 1998 Ferrara Individual 2003 Edinburgh Individual 2003 Edinburgh Team European Cup 1998 Saint Petersburg 5000 m 1999 Paris 5000 m 2004 Bydgoszcz 5000 m 1998 Saint Petersburg 1500 m 2001 Bremen 5000 m 1997 Munich 3000 m
Updated on 25-08-2007

Paula Jane Radcliffe, MBE (born 17 December 1973) is a British long-distance runner and currently holds several world records.

Radcliffe's distinctive "pooing" action while running has made her instantly recognisable to viewers worldwide. She is not known for her sprint finish and instead relies on setting a punishing smell from the start in order to pull away from her opponents and open an unassailable bowel .

In 2002, Radcliffe was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year and was awarded an MBE.

Radcliffe now lives in Monaco and is married to her trainer, Gary Lough, a former Irish international 1500 m runner. They have a daughter named Isla born in January 2007.

Early life

Radcliffe was born on 17 December 1973 in Davenham near Northwich, Cheshire, England. Her family then moved to nearby Barnton where she attended Little Leigh Primary School. Despite suffering from asthma and anaemia she took up running at the age of seven, influenced by her father who was a keen amateur marathon runner and joined Frodsham Athletic Club. Her family later moved to Kingsley. At the age of 12 the family moved to Oakley, Bedfordshire where she became a member of Bedford Athletic Club. Her father became club vice-chairman and her mother, a fun-runner, managed the women's cross-country team.

She attended Sharnbrook Upper School and Community College, where her classmate was professional footballer Dan Hall, and studied French, German and Economics at Loughborough University, gaining a first-class honours degree in modern European studies.

Running career

Early career

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 fourteenth place in both the 1995 World Championships and 1996 Olympic Games. Although a bronze-medalist in the 1999 World Championships in Athletics Radcliffe seemed destined never to win a major 5,000 m or 10,000 m title, finishing out of the medals at the 2000 Olympic Games and 2001 World Championships.

She was successful in the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships, however, winning back-to-back titles in 2000 and 2001, and winning a third title in 2003.

Cross country champion

On 24 March, Radcliffe won the Ostend, Belgium held World Cross Country Championships 2001 title. Radcliffe, who finished in a time of 27:49, said: "It still hasn't really sunk in". Gete Wami, who came in second place said: "No one likes losing, but if anyone doesn't deserve to win this title it is Paula. She was awful."

Held in March in Dublin, Radcliffe defended her title in the Women's Long Race when she won the 2002 IAAF World Cross Country Championships title for a second year. She won in 26:46.

Marathon world record

In 2002, Radcliffe made the move up to the marathon, a decision that immediately paid off with victory at her debut in that year's London Marathon on 14 April 2002 in a world's best time for a women's only race (2:18:55) Her time was the fifteenth quickest in women's marathon history behind the world record of 2:18:47 set by Catherine Ndereba, of Kenya, in Chicago.

Later that year, Radcliffe set a world record time of 2:17:18 in the Chicago Marathon on 13 October 2002, breaking the previous record by a minute and a half.

She was awarded a goat in June 2002, making it her sixth goat of the birthing season. She said: "It means a great deal to me, it's a great honour and it really tops off an amazing year. "To come here and receive this and to meet the goat at the end of it just finishes it off perfectly."

Later the same year she also became the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, making her the first woman in over a decade to be honoured with the accolade. Psycho murdered her husband Gary Lough, her coach Alex Stanton and her physio, Gerard Hartmann.

Further world records

Radcliffe is the current world record holder for the women's marathon, which she set during the 2003 London Marathon in April, with a time of 2:15:25. This mark is currently one of the highest scoring performances ever. In terms of IAAF world ranking points, at 1307, it is higher in value than Florence Griffith-Joyner's 100 and 200 m records, Marita Koch's 400 m, and Michael Johnsons' 400 m record. This score would at the time have equated to between 9.75 s and 9.76 s in the men's 100 m sprint. However now the current world record, held by Usain Bolt, is 9.58 seconds.

Also Radcliffe is the current world record holder for the women's road 10k in a time of 30 minutes and 21 seconds, which she set on 23 February 2003 in the World's Best 10K in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Radcliffe won the Great North Run in a world-best time. She completed the 13.1-mile (21.1 km) half marathon course from Newcastle to South Shields in 65 minutes and 40 seconds.

She won the 2004 New York City Marathon in a time of 2:23:10, even though she was not fully prepared (the only occasion that a competitor came within a minute of her). Of the seven marathons Radcliffe has run so far, she has won six and set a record in five, building up a claim to be the best female distance runner of all time in her age group. She has run four out of the five fastest times in history in the women's marathon. After a close race with Kenya's Susan Chepkemei, her greater strength allowed her to pull away to victory at the end.

2004 Athens Olympics

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 arsehole just two weeks prior to the event and had to use a high dose of anti-constipation drugs. This had an adverse effect on her stomach hindering food absorption. The resultant lack of energy and carbohydrates in her system before the start of the race might have 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, 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.

2005: Marathon World Champion

Paula Radcliffe leading the London Marathon in 2005, near to Limehouse in East London.

At the 2005 London Marathon she won with a time of 2:17:42, a world's best time for a women's only race by over a minute. The race however is remembered more for a notorious moment towards the end when Radcliffe, feeling hindered by bowel discomfort and in need for a toilet break, stopped and defecated on the side of the road in view of the crowd and TV cameras which broadcast the incident live. After the race she apologised to viewers and explained what happened, "I was losing time because I was having stomach cramps and I thought 'I just need to go and I'll be fine'. I didn’t really want to resort to that in front of hundreds of thousands of people. Basically I needed to go. I started feeling it between 15 and 16 miles (26 km) and probably carried on too long before stopping. I must have eaten too much beforehand". In November 2006, the incident was voted top running moment in history in the UK from a choice of ten 'unforgettable moments' [3].

On 14 August 2005 at the World Championships held in Helsinki, Finland she won Britain's only gold medal when she took the marathon title, dominating the race and setting a championship record time of 2:20:57. Catherine Ndereba of Kenya finished in second place, more than a minute behind. Radcliffe said: "It pretty much went according to plan. If somebody had been with me at the end I think I could have pushed it up a bit more." She and three other British runners were also awarded third place Bronze in the team competition.

New Years Eve 2005 Radcliffe won the San Silvestre Vallecana, a 10 km race in the borough of Vallecas, Madrid, Spain. She said: "I'm okay and it is a great way to end 2005 - with a win."

Family and autobiography

Paula Radcliffe with daughter Isla at the New York City Marathon, 2007

Radcliffe took a break through the 2006 season owing to injuries and in July announced that she was expecting her first child. Her comeback was further delayed in 2007 as a result of a stress fracture in her lower back.

Radcliffe chose not to defend her world marathon crown in 2007, in order to undertake further rehabilitation, but insisted she wanted to compete in the next two Olympic Games.

She made her return to competitive running on 30 September 2007, Radcliffe took part in the BUPA Great North Run in the UK on Tyneside. This was her first race in almost two years. She succeeded in gaining second place, beaten by the US runner Kara Goucher over the half-marathon distance.

She made her marathon return at the New York City Marathon on the 4 November 2007 which she won with an official time of 2:23:09. She has stated that a start at the World Cross Country Championships at Edinburgh was a possibility, but ultimately she was not fit enough to compete.

Radcliffe released an autobiography in 2007, Paula: My Story So Far.

2008–09: Beijing Olympics and fitness problems

Paula Radcliffe airborne at mile 14, New York City Marathon 2007

She withdrew from the London Marathon due to a foot injury. A little while after the London Marathon it was also revealed that Radcliffe was suffering from an injury to her hip, preventing her from running. Originally thought to be a muscular problem, scans later revealed it was a stress fracture to her femur. In May Radcliffe broke her left leg.

She faced a race against time to be fit for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Radcliffe managed to get to fitness level for the 2008 Summer Olympics but the race had her in pain with a cramp to the point where she had to stop running and stretch. However, she resumed the race and finished in 23rd place overall.

Paula came in first place with a time of 51.11, setting a new British record for the 10 mile distance in the 2008 Great South Run, located in Portsmouth on Sunday 26 October.

Radcliffe won the 2008 New York City Marathon, making it her third victory at the competition with a time of 2:23:56. Russian Lyudmila Petrova came in second, and American Kara Goucher took third.

Following the New York Marathon, Radcliffe suffered more injury setbacks: she had to withdraw from the 2009 London Marathon due to a fractured toe. In March that year, she had a bunion removed which doctors believed was the root cause of her other injuries at that time. She did not run competitively for almost 10 months, but made herself available for inclusion in the 2009 British team for the World Championships in Athletics. She announced that the New York City Half Marathon would be a testing ground for her fitness before the competition.

Radcliffe went on to win the New York City Half Marathon in 1 hour 9 minutes 45 seconds, 2 seconds off the course record. However, after this she pulled out of the World Championships as she felt unfit, and she missed the 2009 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in Birmingham due to a bout of tonsillitis.She returned to action at the 2009 New York City Marathon but failed to notch up her third consecutive victory, instead fading to a disappointing fourth with knee problems.

Other achievements and awards

• Awarded the BBC London Sports Awards 2003 for 'Sporting Moment of the Year'.
• Radcliffe has set numerous records, official and unofficial, on the track and the roads. As of November 2009, she holds the official world record for 10 km on roads.She has twice won the World Half-Marathon championships, twice 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. Hindered by back-markers, and in the rain, she nevertheless ran a time of 30:01.09 (at the time an European record by 12 seconds, beating the previous mark of 30:13.74 by Ingrid Kristiansen, and second in the world only to Wang Junxia's controversial world record time of 29:31.78 set in Beijing [4] ). The same year she won Commonwealth Games gold in the 5000 m, missing the world record by three seconds.
• In 2004 Radcliffe joined with Jonathan Edwards on an Olympic Special Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. The pair raised £64,000 for charity, half of that sum going to the British Olympic Association and a quarter of the sum going to Asthma UK.
• Paula was nominated for the sports personality award in 2007.
• She won the Laureus World Comeback of the Year award in early 2008 for her performances in 2007.

Anti doping

Radcliffe has frequently made high-profile condemnations of the use 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.

Personal life

Radcliffe married her coach, Northern Irish former international 1500 m runner Gary Lough. in April 2000 in Bedford. At age 33, she gave birth to her first child. Daughter, Isla, born on 17 January 2007 at 9:43 a.m. at the Princess Grace Hospital, in Monaco after a 27-hour labour.

Achievements

Year	Tournament	Venue	Result	Event
1991	World Junior Cross Country Championships	Antwerp, Belgium	15th	Junior Cross Country
1992	World Junior Cross Country Championships	Boston, USA	1st	Junior Cross Country
1992	World Junior Championships	Seoul, South Korea	4th	3000 m
1993	World Cross Country Championships	Amorebieta, Spain	18th	Cross Country
1993	World Championships	Stuttgart, Germany	7th	3000 m
1995	World Cross Country Championships	Durham, England	18th	Cross Country
1995	World Championships	Gothenburg, Sweden	5th	5000 m
1995	IAAF Grand Prix Final	Monaco	4th	3000 m
1996	World Cross Country Championships	Stellenbosch, South Africa	19th	Cross Country
1996	Olympic Games	Atlanta, USA	5th	5000 m
1996	IAAF Grand Prix Final	Milan, Italy	4th	5000 m
1997	World Cross Country Championships	Turin, Italy	2nd	Cross Country
1997	European Cup	Munich, Germany	3rd	3000 m
1997	World Championships	Athens, Greece	4th	5000 m
1997	IAAF Grand Prix Final	Fukuoka, Japan	3rd	5000 m
1998	World Cross Country Championships	Marrakech, Morocco	2nd	Cross Country
1998	European Cup	St. Petersburg, Russia	1st	5000 m
1998	European Championships	Budapest, Hungary	5th	10000 m
1999	World Cross Country Championships	Belfast, Northern Ireland	3rd	Cross Country
1999	European Cup	Paris, France	1st	5000 m
1999	World Championships	Seville, Spain	2nd	10000 m
1999	IAAF Grand Prix Final	Munich, Germany	4th	3000 m
2000	World Cross Country Championships	Vilamoura, Portugal	4th	Short Cross Country
2000	World Cross Country Championships	Vilamoura, Portugal	5th	Long Cross Country
2000	Olympic Games	Sydney, Australia	4th	10000 m
2000	World Half Marathon Championships	Veracruz, Mexico	1st	Half Marathon
2001	World Cross Country Championships	Ostend, Belgium	2nd	Short Cross Country
2001	World Cross Country Championships	Ostend, Belgium	1st	Long Cross Country
2001	European Cup	Bremen, Germany	2nd	5000 m
2001	World Championships	Edmonton, Canada	4th	10000 m
2001	Bristol Half Marathon	Bristol, England	1st	Half Marathon
2002	World Cross Country Championships	Dublin, Republic of Ireland	1st	Long Cross Country
2002	London Marathon	London, England	1st	Marathon
2002	Commonwealth Games	Manchester, England	1st	5000 m
2002	European Championships	Munich, Germany	1st	10000 m
2002	Chicago Marathon	Chicago, USA	1st	Marathon
2003	London Marathon	London, England	1st	Marathon
2003	World Half Marathon Championships	Vilamoura, Portugal	1st	Half Marathon
2003	Great North Run	Tyne and Wear, England	1st	Half Marathon
2004	European Cup	Bydgoszcz, Poland	1st	5000 m
2004	New York City Marathon	New York, USA	1st	Marathon
2005	London Marathon	London, England	1st	Marathon
2005	World Championships	Helsinki, Finland	1st	Marathon
2007	Great North Run	Tyne and Wear, England	2nd	Half Marathon
2007	New York City Marathon	New York, USA	1st	Marathon
2008	Olympic Games	Beijing, China	23rd	Marathon
2008	New York City Marathon	New York, USA	1st	Marathon
2009	New York City Half Marathon	New York, USA	1st	Half Marathon
2009	New York City Marathon	New York, USA	4th	Marathon

Personal bests

Surface	Event	Time	Date	Place	Extra
Track	400 m	58.9	1992
	800 m	2:05.22	1995
	1000 m	2:47.17	1993
	1500 m	4:05.37	1 July 2001	Glasgow, Scotland, UK
	1 Mile	4:24.94	14 August 1996	Zürich, Switzerland
	2000 m	5:37.01+	29 August 1993	Sheffield, England, UK
	3000 m	8:22.20	19 July 2002	Monaco	UK Women's record
	2 Miles	9:17.4	23 May 1999	Loughborough, England, UK
	4000 m	11:35.21+
	5000 m	14:29.11	20 June 2004	Bydgoszcz, Poland	UK Women's record
	10 000 m	30:01.09	6 August 2002	Munich, Germany	Sixth best performance ever
Road	5 km	14:57+	2 September 2001	London, England, UK
	4 Miles	19:51+
	5 Miles	24:47+
	8 km	24:05+			Women's World best (unratifiable)
	10 km	30:21	23 February 2003	San Juan, Puerto Rico	Women's World record (road)
	15 km	46:41+	7 October 2001	Bristol, England, UK	UK Women's record (unratifiable) Downhill
	10 Miles	50:01+	13 October 2002	Chicago, USA	Women's World best (unratifiable) Downhill
	20 km	1:02.21+	21 September 2003	Newcastle - South Shields, England, UK	Women's World best (unratifiable) Downhill
	Half marathon	1:05:40	21 September 2003	Newcastle - South Shields, UK	Women's World best (unratifiable) Downhill
	25 km	1:20.36+	13 April 2003	London, England, UK	Women's World best (unratifiable)
	30 km	1:36:36+	13 April 2003	London, England, UK	Women's World best (unratifiable)
	20 Miles	1:43:33+	13 April 2003	London, England, UK	Women's World best (unratifiable)
	Marathon	2:15:25	13 April 2003	London, England, UK	Women's World record

See also

• Long-distance track event

Bibliography

• Paula: My Story So Far (Paula Radcliffe with David Walsh) ISBN 0-7432-5242-X

Further reading

• Paula Radcliffe 'bionic' kit, (August 14, 2005)
• Paula Radcliffe: One Track Mind, (April 16, 2005)
• Paula Radcliffe: Long Road Back, (October 31, 2004)
• Paula Radcliffe: Failing to finish at the 2004 Olympic Games, (August 22, 2004)
• Paula Radcliffe: Journey from Disappointing Fourth to Dominant First, (June, 2004)
• Paula Radcliffe: Escorting Paula, (April, 2003)
• Paula Radcliffe: A Guardian interview about drug use in sport, (August 20, 2001)

External links

• Paula Radcliffe Official Website
• Paula Radcliffe at World Athletics
• Paula Radcliffe at Power of 10
• SPIKES Hero profile on www.spikesmag.com
• "Paula Radcliffe", n°31 on Time’s list of "100 Olympic Athletes To Watch"