Think you missed the point OllyK. She lost the marathon, cried the tears- fair enuff. On monday she did an interview and broke down again. FFS whats all that about?? Did I see Chris Evett sob for days when she lost wimbledon to Martina? End of day she a professional so should act like that AFTER the event. Chin up and get on with winning the 10,000 metres rather than sobbing about why she didn't win. Hands down to the woman that did win as she seems to have been forgotten completely!!!

And what about Kelly holmes? Oh sry we are still in mourning for poor old Radcliffe. :cry: :cry: :cry:

This is what I was alluding to earlier..

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Sport/Question55580.html

.. but as I said, I was wrong. I didn't say she didn't deserve sympathy but I don't like washing your dirty laundry in public, much the same as people who post personal problems on this board and expect others to sort their lives out for them. The odd tear out of pride for winning is fine but to then hold a press conference and start blubbing is out of order in my book.

I also said that unless she has something wrong with her, then her poor performance is down to bad preparation and that is her fault - I didn't mention her lack of work.

Dito. Heard Seb Coe on the radio makeing excuses for her, said it looked like dehydration. You would have thought the doctors would have been able to pick up on that a week ago!

How many of you are decent level athletes? I would expect some of you to have your own personal experiences of competition before slating a professional athlete.

All the media attention is overhyped as usual, but that's not Paula's fault. She went for medal, so i can see her reasons for stopping other than being physically exhausted.

I'd like to see anyone on here run a Marathon in those conditions, on that gruelling a course and at a pace around 5 min/mile before you comment on how much a wimp she is at giving up.

If I'd spent at least the last 4 years of my life aiming for an Olympic gold, then failing and realising I might not get another chance (ever) I may be feeling pretty devasted after more than just 24hrs myself.

Think of any painful part of your own life and see if it didn't bother you any more than a day or two.

Personally, I think she should have stayed clear of TV interviews for a while as re-living the experience in front of the public won't help the recovery in the short-term.

As for the 10K event. She's been beaten before without 39K inher legs so I don't hold out much hope for her doing a Kelly Holmes.

Stefan

Unclebuck,

you are indeed a sterile man of little thought. Attitudes like yours epitomise the current british attitude towards athletes in all disciplines, and make me ashamed.

Paul

Yeah, but Pavlo, what do you REALLY think?

Who cares? She won. We can't slag her off for anything, so she's a bad sport. :rolleyes:

'Attitudes like yours epitomise the current british attitude towards athletes in all disciplines, and make me ashamed.'

LOL Pavlo getting abit serious aren't we. UB is merely stating his opinion you plank :nono:

So is Pavlo - If he's a plank what does that make you ?

I am serious, it's a serious point that goes to the heart of Britain's sporting prowess at these Olympics. We have gone from a nation that held the likes of Coe and Ovett as every-day heros and insprired a further generation of athletes. To a bunch of apathetic moaning armchair athletes that wouldn't know what dedication was if it tattooed itself to the inside of their eyelids.

What I think, is that to dedicate yourself 100% for 4 years, doing more physical activity than most will see in a lifetime, gambling that you will be able to perform for just 2 hours at the end of it is a massive commitment. To see that dissapear because of what you couldn't do, rather than what you tried or did do, is devastating. And that nobody here has even an iota of empathy of what it's like to make it to the startline under such massive pressure, let alone put your body through the ringer.

What makes it even worse, is that had she won, the critics and the haters would most likely have said something like 'well she's the record holder, of course she should win it's no big deal'.

The day that we as a nation can bring ourselves to continue to celebrate the great people that started with our support as underdogs, is the day we will start to move on as a sporting nation.

Paul

LOL, the problem with a lot of Brits is they like to knock people when they fail or show the slightest weakness. Perhaps it just makes them feel a little better about themselves. Personally I don't like this attitude and don't have any respect for anyone who follows it.

Of course, with BBS's a lot of people just spout any rubbish to make a name for themselves or start a bit of an argument going. Very sad :(

Stefan

To everyone that feels for Paula. Do you feel the same when the England football/cricket/rugby team lose, or when Henman fails again after being told he is one of the favourites?

RichardC

NO

Can I ask why?

Do footballers or rugby players not train for World Cups? Does Henman not train for his tournaments?

The whole arguement here is that Paula Radcliffe trained so hard for an event that she may never enter again and she failed. If any of the above were in the same position, would you not feel the same for them?

RichardC

The examples you gave were all Team games (with the exception of Timmy Boy). I didn't rejoice when Gazza was crying because he thought he was gonna miss the World Cup Final and I wasn't all that happy when Ronaldo was crying at losing the Euro 2004 Final - When people have Really tried their best and failed they get upset - If they don't get upset then they either weren't trying that hard or they are ROBOTS - I'm all for a bit of emotion when it comes to representing your Country.

I agree that they are team games, but they still train to be the best at their given sport.

I see that you are a Arsenal fan. If they were 2-0 down with 5 mins to go in a Champions League final and they gave up, because they thought that winning the game was a hopelss task, would you defend them?

To me it looked like Paula was giving her all, and could not match her opponents on the day, so pulled out. Im not saying that Paula Radcliffe is useless (far from it), but I get a little worked up when our press praise her for losing and get on the backs of our other sportspersons when the same happens.

RichardC

I just don't think you understand what a selfless attitude really means F D'I. All you can see is that she stopped so therefore she is a failure. That is absolute nonsense as many have said here.

She was forced to stop, she had another couple of tries to continue, but her body just would not co-operate. No way can you blame her over that. Do you honestly think that was due to her lack of persistence. Have you never watched her running when she has won in incredible record times due to her absolute will to win and her normal ability to make herself overcome the pain in achieving all that?

She also knew what was expected of her and she was genuinely apologising to the British because she could not go on. Thats the sort of thing that people do when they think of others as well as themselves!

I think you might profit from a more generous and mature attitude in this respect.

Les :(

Before anyone else get in - I'd be over the moon if they managed to get to the Semi never mind the final ;) - But obviously I wouldn't defend them for giving up in that situation - But If Thiery Henry was hacked down in the 85th minute and felt he couldn't continue I wouldn't be baying for his blood as he wasn't really fighting for the "Cause".

So Do I !

She's the world's best female marathon runner who had a sh1t race in the olympics. Hardly PC.

Precisely, it's about attitude - she could not have been more focused on winning olympic gold. She failed and is gutted. What the fcuk is wrong with that UB? Or is it all this showing of emotion that just isn't British in your book?

She failed. End of story. Life goes on like any sport. YOU GET OVER IT!!!

Leslie, perhaps you should try reading what others have actually said before you castigate them. I've said it before and I'll say it again, too many people lack basic comprehension skills on this board and jump to conclusions if anyone has an alternative opinion and read into posts what they want to see. You can now accuse me of being either arrogant/pompous or patronising as this is normally the next step in these debates.

This is what I said....

I stand by that. I have not said she is a failure, nor do I believe that she is a failure but if there is nothing wrong with her blood tests then her failure to finish is a result of bad preparation. Bad preparation is her fault and that of her trainers and there is no hiding from that - she hasn't blamed the weather conditions and nor am I.

Is that clear enough for you?

I don't suffer from the English diseases of hiding your opinions and the jolly hockeysticks mentality that far too many people have in this country towards sport. Sport is serious. You don't turn up just to take part, you turn up to win and that is why I am so proud of the England Rugby team who have utter determination, thorough training and a will to win. For the same reason and because I participate in the sport, I'm extremely proud of our sailors who have the same attitude and you only had to listen to Hiscocks describing his balls up yesterday to realise how pissed off he was with himself - in other words, a strong will to win.

Can you tell us exactly what was wrong with her preperations? In fact, can you tell us what her preperations were full stop?

Paul

Then surely for those exact reasons you must admire Paula. She turned up to win, she wasn't there to make up the numbers, ballsed up (for whatever reason - we dont know) and is mighty pissed with herself.

You're proud of Hiscock so are you proud of Paula?

No. He stated his reasons and didn't whinge. Paula went into one big "I am " whinge which I can't abide whereas he stated his problems without sentimemtnlalas and got on with it.

I will end this thread. Yes Paula you trained hard but at the end of the day it wasn't good enough and someone better than you won. The show must go on, end the tears and get prepared for the 10,000m. :eek2:

Typical Prince Popeye - First sign of a fight and he gives up :p;)

F D'I and Popeye,

When you are considering human nature and its strengths and frailties, you cannot in all fairness deal in "black and white" form of arguments. We are discussing a person, not a machine. That is a very biased way to conduct the matter. That was the basis of my post if you read it again.

Les

No. The basis of your post was to accuse me of saying things that I didn't and you now lack the grace to admit you're wrong.

On the contrary F D'I, I am on record on SN for apologising when I have made a mistake. I stand by what I said, you did in fact accuse her of failure in her preparation. Wonder how you know that in fact, or anything else about the situation apart from what you have assumed.

Les

Yes, her preparation was at fault otherwise she wouldn't have had to pull up would she? Other athletes managed to complete the course and in particular the Japanes athlete's preparation was obviously better as she was less affected by conditions.

Can you not make the distinction between my saying that she failed in her preparation and my not saying that she is a failure?

You've now shifted your argument. Firstly, you accused me of saying she's a failure (which I didn't) and now your trying to extend that to my comments about her preparation. It's in black and white - why can't you see it?

There is a world of difference between saying someone is a failure and saying that they failed to prepare properly.