- 4 Aug 08, 04:52 PM
Macau
Hold the back page, Paula has arrived!
After months of "Will she wont she?" Radcliffe stepped off the bus at the training camp hotel reception on Monday bathed in smiles and looking like a million dollars.
Only 24 hours previously, the signs were that Team Radcliffe, which includes husband and coach Gary Lough weren't crazy at the prospect of facing the mass of media in Macau waiting on her every word.
Perhaps you can't blame them after a year beset by injury which first scuppered her hopes of running the London Marathon and then appeared to wreck her dreams of Beijing and a shot at redemption after her attempt at glory in Athens ended, literally, in tears.
But the bigwigs got round the table and sure enough, Paula was happy to answer questions after catching her breath from a 12-hour flight and ferry ride over from Hong Hong. And the signs are that against all the odds, she will be on the start line in Beijing.
But Radcliffe is realistic. She may be the greatest marathon runner of all time - check out her astonishing world records - but she's not superhuman and that giant chunk taken out of her training schedule by a fracture to her femur means gold is a slim hope.
"After what's gone on, I have to think smarter," she told me as we stood on the balcony overlooking the camp,s alluring stretch of private beach.
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"I will put what I can into it to finish as high as I can. If I feel I'm in good enough shape to give it a good shot then I'll be in there fighting. After all the cross-training I've done, my endurance base is better than ever."
Of course there's still the chance that she may withdraw - the next two weeks progress here will be critical-but there's no doubt she'll strain every sinew to make it.
"It's the Olympics," she explained, "so you take a risk."
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In the last two weeks before the marathon Paula will be tapering and reducing training levels so unless she is expecting an injury with reduced training levels she'll be at the start line!
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Regarding the Radcliffe episode leading into the Olympics - have observed a lot of hate-orientated commentary from posters on such threads...
Yes - people have a right to have an opinion, but to dislike her with such venom...not sure what that is all about...
What she does or has done has no tangible bearing on most people's lives ( other than fill us with joy or despair; but she has not deliberately set out to harm anyone ) - the Olympics come round once every four years - they last two weeks and then they're gone...yes, we tune in the in the vane hope that a Brit will do us proud...and if they do, fantastic, if they don't, then it should the case that there is a lot more in your - our - immediate world to get worked up about...
There are people out there that are more worthy of our scorn...
Let's get some perspective...
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If a Chinese athlete had made the remarkable progress that Paula did in her career, the media would be full of it.
Sorry, I have to view her career with suspicion, she misses too many events for my peace of mind, as if something wasn't quite right.
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Paula is without doubt the greatest athelete that GB has produced since Daily Thompson.
She would not be in Beijing if she didn't think she had a realistic chance.
If she starts this race, she will win!
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