AUGUST 17 - A TEARFUL Paula Radcliffe (pictured) admitted that she had "tried the impossible" after finishing 23rd in the marathon at the Olympics in Beijing.
The world record holder, told three months ago that she would not be able to compete in the Games because of a stress fracture to her femur, had done hardly any proper running in the build-up and been preparing mostly on a NASA-designed treadmill.
She kept pace with the leaders for the first 19 miles despite once again having to stop briefly for a toilet break.
The effort finally took its toll and she began to slip backwards and she had to stop.
But, determined to finish to avoid a repeat of what happened four years ago when she dropped out in Athens, she got going again and was clearly running on one leg as she limped across the line.
Radcliffe said: "I was trying to achieve the impossible because the amount of running I had done wasn’t enough.
"You can't take short-cuts in the marathon.
"My calf stiffened up, and it went all the way up my leg.
"By the end, I was running on one leg.
"'I don't regret anything at all - if I had stopped, all that hard work would have been for nothing."
The winner was Romania's 38-year-old Constantina Tomescu Dita, who broke away after only nine miles to win in 2 hours 26min 44sec with Kenyan Catherine Ndereba claiming silver edging China's Zhou Chunxiu into bronze after a battle down the home straight in the Bird's Nest before a capacity crowd of 91,000.
Radcliffe's time was 2:32:38 and it means that of the nine marathons she has run she has won seven.
The only two she has lost have been in the Olympics.
The 34-year-old Bedford runner said: "Perhaps it's not just going to happen for me in the Olympics."
It was Radcliffe's fourth appearance in the Games and her best performance is still the fourth place she achieved in the 10,000 metres at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.
But she is already setting her sights on London 2012.
Radcliffe said: "It's not the end.
"We still keep fingers crossed for 2012.
"Maybe the Olympics won't happen for me but how hold is Constantina?
"Maybe my body will hold out and I could do that.
"I know in London I will have all that support."
Harrow's Mara Yamauchi was sixth in 2:27:29, equalling the best performance by a British runner in this event, matching the achievement of Priscilla Welch in Los Angeles in 1984, the year that the women's marathon made its debut in the Olympics.
The third Briton was Radcliffe's clubmate Liz Yelling, who was 26th in 2:33:12 after suffering a fall early in the race and suffering a rib injury.
