RAJ27

A lot of the press,media and others have been saying what went wrong in the marathon race for Paula.

She is a great athelete, but all I can see is that she was beaten by 3 others and possibly the conditions. Why the crying etc.? She can't win all of the time?

Warwick-hunt

maybe its because shes the world record holder and was expected to win

all the tears may be because of all the preperation gone down the tubes and shes not won the thing shes worked for, for the last few years (the olympics) they don't come round every year you know!

Dazza01

Well she managed 23 miles more than i could anyway

Ray_li

wot about the poor sod that cam last. Thinking he/she was gonna have a good crack at gold

unclebuck

I don't know what they've been saying, and I don't care.

She was beaten by better athletes on the day and couldn't handle it. If she had finished and not behaved as she did I might have had some sympathy. As it is... well....

mart360

bur we all rally round a good looser!!

my mrs was givin it the rather than come fourth and not get a medal she dropped out..

i was goin on the lines of its the taking part that counts...

she lost........end of story....move on!!!!!!


its a bit like beckham and wilkinson......

both get paid to do a job... wilkinson performs result

beckham dosent... yet all he has to do is plant a ball in a net...

yet they complain about the turf, the ref, the weather...


global warming here we go!!

M

Drunken Bungle Whore

I envy the fact that you have never had to pin all your efforts on a presentation/ interview/ meeting/ date/ event of any sort. Any one who ever has, and then had it all go wrong for whatever reason will understand why the crying etc.

IMHO I think the poor woman has been under soooo much pressure leading up to these games that she's in danger of having some sort of break down. She needs to go on a nice long holiday to get everything back into perspective. Yes it is only a race - but it's the whole world for her right now and I'm sure many of us have been in similar (though far less public) situations.

Huxley

Just my thoughts "why don't they leave her alone FFS" at least she got to the olympics more than most people have!!!!!!!

Leslie

Can't see why she deserves any criticism. She spent all those years training for this event in all sorts of special ways, and you only get the one chance at it in 4 years. Anyone deserves to be upset when it all falls away like that. That was probably her only chance at it too.

Everyone is affected in different ways by conditions, I have suffered heat exhaustion and it is pretty awful, you just can't do anything any more, and I was only sitting in a plane on the ground! Those who live in and were brought up in hot countries will have an advantage under sweltering conditions like they had to undergo during the race. I think the organisers deserve the flak for holding the race at that time of day purely for the convenience of US television!

During her interview, she would not blame the conditions but just said it was the same for everyone, she deserves recognition for not looking for excuses. She just said she has no idea why she was so badly affected. What more do you expect her to say? We all know that she would have continued if she had been physically able to do so.

She put everything into the effort to win but the conditions beat her, little else to say and no reason for criticism.

Les

jasey

I think most of the tears were because she felt she had let the great British public down - She went onto Grandstand to basically apologise to her "Great Nation" - Reading some of the ****e on here I sometimes wonder why she bothered. UncleBuck comes on here usually slating the Government for all the Ills in the World then slates a poor girl who broke down 'cos she was broken hearted at having her dreams fall apart in public. Well If I was Paula and read some of this ****e I'd see about getting myself Australian/American/any-place-but-this-****-hole Citizenship PDQ.


The Media banging on their usual Bile (especially Brendan Foster) isn't Paula Radcliffe's fault !

Give the Girl a break !

davyboy

She is a winner!

Would you expect her to just shrug her shoulder and say, "oh well, I'll have another go in another 4 years".

FFS!

tiggers

Got to agree with jasey on this.

She competed, did her best and lost - upsetting for her and I guess for the die hard British fans of the marathon, but at the end of the day she's just one athlete amongst many and it hardly deserves the frenzy that has been whipped up by our beloved media.

This of course results in her receiving the attention of that wonderful group of people - the armchair experts (still at least it give them a chance to criticise something different for a change).

tiggers.

Scoob99

iTrader: (1)

Have to agree with Leslie and jasey on this one and yes she is a winner, don't give up on us now Paula, you can do it again in 4 years hun, Good Luck
Cheers
Colin

MooseRacer

Agree with tiggers, jacey et al on this.

She is the world's best marathon runner, a professional athlete, who has spent the last god knows how long in preparation for the Olympics.

She herself doesn't know why she performed so badly. To her credit she isn't grasping for the easy excuses of 'the heat' or 'the course'.

I have more respect for her seeing the emotional turmoil she went through/is going through. It proves she was 110% commited. If she had just laughed and shrugged it off then maybe she would have deserved some criticism.

A great athlete.

unclebuck

Some classic politically correct responses on this thread. "You're still a winner, even though you are a loser". Sums up what this country has become in a way.

Contrast this to the response by the Australian public toward one of their rowers who gave up. She has been branded as "wimping out" and "not pulling your weight, mate".

Of course this ties in with the other discussions on this board about why we as a nation are so bad at sport and win so few medals and trophies. It's not about money, but about attitude.

UB

jasey

UB - Paula Radcliffe is the World Record Holder for the Marathon - that's not a bad achievement in my books

Faire D'Income

As far as I'm aware, there is no such thing as a World Record for the marathon?

For the PC blubbers who are allowed to have opinions when others are not, she either prepared badly for this event or she has something wrong with her but to compount that by holding a press conference and crying all over the place doesn't wash with me.

If she wants the sympathy of the nation, then she should run in the 10,000m and regardless of whether she wins or not she'll deservedly get my admiration - until then, put up or shut up.

jasey

Oh - Sorry Mr Pedant - She has run the distance involved in a Marathon in the fastest time ever recorded by a woman.

How's that for you.

I'm sure she couldn't give a **** what you think either .

Brendan Hughes

http://www.iaaf.org/statistics/recor...MAR/index.html

Faire D'Income

Then why is she apologising to "the Great British Public" then?

unclebuck

Don't tell me she's wimped out of the 10,000m as well. That's her remaining credibility down the pan then.

I think I'll put my lot in with Kelly Holmes. She's been quietly battling away at her events for years and deserves everything she gets. Funny how she seems to be almost completely ignored in contrast to the clearly overrated Radcliffe.

UB

jasey

Cheers BH .

FD

davyboy

And when she gets upset if she loses - you'll come on here and slag her off no doubt.

Prince Popeye

TBH she's a bad loser. The only reason she gave up is because she wasn't going to win a medal. As for the crying it was pathetic. She was even blabbering in the interview room days after.

unclebuck

There will be no need. Because she won't do either. I couldn't imagine KH milking the sympathy vote in the same way that PR is.

Faire D'Income

Cheers, Brendan - it seems I was wrong. I read an article the other day suggesting that as the marathon was inconsistent by it's very nature that official world records could not be set. Still, it will let jasey get all hot and bothered again.

OllyK

Why is there this expectation that becuase somebody is good at a sport and British they must always win otherwise there are a complete failure?? At the top of any sport nobody is sufficently better than everybody else that will always win, and even if they had the talent to do it, there is always the possibility of injury.

OllyK

What was your time in the Marathon??

And your proof for that is what exactly??? Pub talk, you have no idea why she gave up, even she doesn't know other than she just had nothing left to give.

She worked damn hard for months to represent her country, something she obviously does with great pride and then she isn't able to complete the race, I expect the girl is devastated - what would you rather, she shrug her shoulders and say "well it isn't like it is important or anything"

Days after?? The Marathon was Sunday, she gave the interview on Monday, it is only Wednesday now FFS.

You lot are worse than the British press for trying to destroy people for trying their best.

jasey

Are you Ginger ?

Brendan Hughes

Hey, I don't agree with your position on this thread, but at least you have the grace to acknowledge when you're wrong . More than can be said for me

I remember taking my black belt exam with a 10 yr old kid, he was crying when he passed too. Some things, which people work hard for, are emotional events. How some keyboard heros can come on here and say she didn't work/didn't deserve sympathy is utterly beyond me.