By John Wragg for the ExpressPAULA RADCLIFFE accepts the country has forgotten about her after a year off, but the plan to remind people at the London Olympics is still in place.
But it is a different plan. Radcliffe, 37 last week, is taking it much easier after the birth of her son Raphael than she did after the birth of daughter Isla.
She was back training and running in bionic recovery time when Isla was born in 2007.
But the price she paid was heavy, with stress fractures in her back, and it has been a painful time ever since, culminating in the tears after she last ran, injured, and was fourth in the New York marathon on November 1 last year.
Seeing Radcliffe, the woman who would not be broken by fate or injury, hobble through Central Park that New York Sunday made you wonder whether retirement was near.
The tears flowed in semi-privacy after the main press conference. Radcliffe, twice beaten by illness and injury in her quest for Olympic marathon gold, had had to win against more drama to even get on the starting line that day.
There had been an operation needed to remove a bunion that was so bad at times she had not been able to walk unaided, let alone run.
“I was told I had the feet of a 60-year-old,” she said.
But Radcliffe got herself ready for New York, then her knee went. “I would think the public have forgotten about me because I haven’t run for so long.
“They might realise I’ve had another baby, but that’s about it. I was in Monaco the day before I went into hospital to have Raphael and someone said to me ‘Why are you not in Delhi (for the Commonwealth Games)?’
“I just said, ‘Look at the size of me!’ Being off now for over a year has rested my body, and my mind as well. It reinforces how much you love it and still want to do it. And when I’m really happy, that’s usually when I do well.”
Haile Gebrselassie retired after he was injured and could not complete the New York marathon. A week later he reconsidered and, at 37, remains the best of all time. Paula is the best woman’s distance runner of all time. Is there a theme here?
“I won’t be doing a Haile,” said Radcliffe. “When I walk away it will be because my body won’t perform and I’m not getting any enjoyment from it. Everything for me now is about the London Olympics and working backwards from that.”
It will be a bid for Olympic gold on the streets of home. She has won three London marathons, setting the world record of 2:15.25 in the process, and her comeback might be there next April, but it is more likely to be in New York.
“There will be no ‘unknowns’ about the London Olympic marathon,” Radcliffe said. “I know the food, I know the streets, I know what the support is going to be like, I have all that preparation in me. There is always pressure, it comes from yourself. That’s not going to be any different because it’s an Olympics in London.”
And there you have the essence of what Radcliffe, world record holder, world (marathon), European (10,000m) and Common-wealth (5,000m) champion, and consistent fighter against the odds, is running on.
Gebrselassie has two Olympic gold medals. Paula has none.
“It was a gut reaction from Haile but deep down I know it’s going to take a massive thing for me to walk away,” she said. “I will need to know there is nothing left.” And then we will have to wait a few years for the next Radcliffe. “Isla was funny the other day,” said Paula. “I’ve been going down to the track to do a few weights and run on the grass and Isla was asked if she wanted to go with mummy or stay at home.
"‘I have to learn running,’ Isla said. ‘That’s what mummy does’. And then Isla will say ‘I’m running too fast’ because everything she does she has to win.”
The family business looks like being passed on into good hands.
PAULA RADCLIFFE was speaking at Niketown London on Oxford Street. The iconic store has been extensively redeveloped, making it the largest Nike store in the world with four floors dedicated to running, football, rugby, women’s training, action sports, basketball, athletic training, tennis, NIKEiD and the Nike Sportswear lifestyle range.
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