Paula Radcliffe
Paula Radcliffe
Paula Jane Radcliffe, MBEis an English long-distance runner. She is the current women's world record holder in the marathon with her time of 2 hours 15 minutes and 25 seconds. She is a three-time winner of the London Marathon, three-time New York Marathon champion, and won the 2002 Chicago Marathon...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionRunner
Date of Birth17 December 1973
athens
I am not going to let Athens affect the rest of my life.
years magic
You can't magic yourself back 10 years.
looks balls marathon
If you look back at my marathons and ask whether I would swap one of them for my one balls-up, of course I would. But you can't choose. You have to make the best of it on the day.
three olympics feels
I've been to three Olympics and I don't feel I've ever quite achieved my best at any of them.
london achieve
I'm confident of what I have to achieve in the buildup to London 2012.
missing stronger lessons
I am not driven by any bitterness by what happened in Athens. I learnt a lot of lessons from it and probably came through it a stronger person in the end. There have been a lot of near misses, and that's taught me to keep persevering and that there is a chance it can come right.
worry waste wasting-time
There's always going to be somebody who takes a dislike to you and you can't waste time worrying about it.
pregnancy thinking stronger
I think your body is just a little bit stronger after pregnancy.
feelings enjoy
It's good to be back, feeling like myself and enjoying it.
feelings olympics emptiness
I felt totally myself, nothing like the emptiness and horrible feeling I had then [pulling out the Olympics] - no dizziness.
sports cheating work
It's important that athletes can compete on a level playing field. And youngsters coming into the sport can know that if they are working hard and training hard, they'll see a true reflection of where they stand and what they can achieve worldwide and not be swayed by people who are cheating.
feelings trying athens
I took a lot of bad things after Athens. I just learnt to deal with it. The problem was beforehand I had this feeling where I was trying to please everybody - I wanted everybody to like me.
keys years goal
I set myself some specific goals, but the key one is just getting myself into as good a shape as possible for one day this year: the Olympic marathon.
would-be bronze olympic-medals
I would be happy with an Olympic bronze. What I don't have is an Olympic medal.