The Marathon Fiasco

British papers are full of Paula Radcliffe's failure to complete the marathon at the Athens Olympics. Radcliffe, the world record holder, was tipped to take gold, instead, as she slipped into 4th, she gave up, four miles from the finish, sat on the pavement and cried.

The press are all saying 'Poor Paula', 'Dreams shattered' etc, I have no doubt that Radcliffe is as "devastated" as she has claimed.

However, people are complaining about how hot it is, and that was why she did not finish. It is Greece, it is August, it is supposed to be hot. Every year there are stories of people dying in the Greek summers. The Japanese girl who won seemed to cope, apparently she had trained in St Moritz, which is hardly similar. Some athletes said that the temperature was too hot for Northern Europeans to cope with, yet others finished.

The course was apparently really hard. It is a marathon, not a stroll in the park, it is not supposed to be easy, otherwise we would all be doing it. There were complaints about running up hills too; had none of these athletes checked out the route before the race? Athletes like Paula have been training years for this event, there is no excuse for a lack of preparation.