Paula Radcliffe MBE
Paula Radcliffe is one of the greatest female distance runners of all time and has taken the women’s marathon to a new level. Quite simply, she is the fastest female marathon runner in the world ever. Her world record time of 2hr 15min 25sec set in London in 2003 is simply staggering - so far clear that no woman has come within three minutes of matching it.
For her first marathon, Radcliffe was expected to take it steady. When she started to raise the tempo, many feared she would be vulnerable to another late attack. But she knew exactly how she felt, and just pulled further away to finish in a world’s best time for the year.
Later in the year, she collected gold at both the Commonwealth Games (5000m) and European Championships (10000m). Then she smashed the marathon world record in Chicago.
Her tremendous form continued into 2003 with that astonishing run in the London Marathon and she was clearly the number one marathon runner in the world.
Radcliffe describes being forced to stop during the Olympic marathon in Athens as the worst moment in her career but she recovered to win the New York Marathon and finally got her World Championship gold in Helsinki in 2005.
During a momentous 2007, she gave birth to Isla in January and won the New York Marathon only ten months later.
The injury curse hit Radcliffe's Olympic preparations again, and despite a brave effort the Beijing Olympic Marathon arrived too early for Paula to be competitive. In typical fashion Paula responded by winning the 2008 New York Marathon from a world class field and by winning the Great South Run.
Away from the track Radcliffe, who has a first class degree from Loughborough and is fluent in French and German, is highly respected for her uncompromising fight against drugs in sport.
www.paularadcliffe.com
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Personal details
Date of birth: 17 December 1973
Place of birth: Northwich, Cheshire
Height: 1.73m
Weight: 54kg
Honours and achievements
2008: Winner, New York Marathon and Great South Run
2007: Winner, New York Marathon
2005: World Championships, Marathon gold medal winner
2005: Winner, London Marathon
2004: Winner, NY Marathon
2003: Winner, London Marathon (in the world record time of 2hr 15min 25sec)
2002: BBC Sports Personality of the Year
2002: Awarded MBE
2002: IAAF International Athlete of the Year
2002: Commonwealth Games 5000m gold medal winner
2002: Winner, London Marathon in 2hr 18min 56sec, the fastest ever marathon debut