Radcliffe, Paula

▪ 2003

      In October 2002 British distance runner Paula Radcliffe cut 89 seconds from the women's world record for the marathon, the biggest improvement in the event in more than 17 years. Radcliffe's historic 2-hr 17-min 18-sec performance at the Chicago Marathon followed her first-ever marathon in April in London, where her winning time of 2 hr 18 min 56 sec was a debut record, just 9 seconds shy of the world record set by Kenyan Catherine Ndereba in Chicago in 2001. In 2002 Ndereba finished a distant second.

      Radcliffe was born on Dec. 17, 1973, in Northwich, Cheshire. Her great-aunt Charlotte Radcliffe had won an Olympic swimming silver medal in the 4 × 100-m freestyle relay in 1920, and Paula cheered on her recreational runner father at the 1985 London Marathon, in which Norwegian Ingrid Kristiansen won the woman's race in a then world record 2 hr 21 min 6 sec.

      Radcliffe soon emerged as a teenage running talent. She won the world junior cross-country title in 1992 and then entered a period of steady but sometimes frustrating progress in global track championships. Seventh in the world championships 3,000 m in 1993, she moved up to fifth in the 5,000 m in the 1995 world championships and the 1996 Olympic Games. In 1997 she advanced to fourth in the 5,000 m. In 1998 she ran a debut-record track 10,000 m of 30 min 48.58 sec. The next year, with her characteristic head-bobbing gait and eyes rolling back with the effort, she set the pace in the world championships 10,000 m in Seville, Spain. She was passed on the last lap by Gete Wami of Ethiopia and finished second in 30 min 27.13 sec. She pushed the pace again in the 2000 Olympic 10,000 m, setting up an Olympic record for winner Derartu Tulu of Ethiopia but finishing fourth herself. Later that year Radcliffe won the world half-marathon title, which signaled that her future might lie in the longer distances.

      Radcliffe won a world cross-country long-course gold in March 2001, a title she successfully defended in early 2002. She again finished fourth in the 2001 track world championships 10,000 m; she then charted a course toward the marathon, training in the Pyrenees, where she logged up to 225-km (about 140-mi) per week in training. After the London Marathon, she won two gold medals within 10 days at the 2002 Commonwealth Games (5,000 m) and European championships (where she ran history's second fastest women's 10,000 m in drenching rain). An outspoken opponent of doping in sport, Radcliffe two days before the Chicago race insisted on being administered her fifth out-of-competition drug test of the year. Radcliffe was named female athlete of the year by the International Association of Athletics Federations, Track & Field News, and the British Athletics Writers Association, and on November 5 she was awarded an MBE for services to athletics.

Sieg Lindstrom

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▪ British distance runner

born Dec. 17, 1973, Northwich, Cheshire, Eng.

      British distance runner who set world records in the marathon.

      Radcliffe was born into an athletic family. Her great-aunt Charlotte Radcliffe won an Olympic silver medal in the 4 × 100-metre freestyle swimming relay in 1920, and Paula cheered on her father, a recreational runner, when he ran in the 1985 London Marathon. By the time she was a teenager, Radcliffe had emerged as a running talent. She won the world junior cross-country title in 1992 and then entered a period of steady but sometimes frustrating progress in global track championships. She finished seventh in the world championship 3,000 metres in 1993 and fifth in the 5,000 metres in the 1995 world championships and the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. In 1997 Radcliffe advanced to fourth in the 5,000 metres. Two years later, with her characteristic head-bobbing gait and eyes rolling back with the effort, she set the pace in the world championship 10,000 metres in Sevilla, Spain. However, she was passed on the last lap by Gete Wami of Ethiopia and finished second in 30 min 27.13 sec. At the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, she pushed the pace again in the 10,000 metres, setting up an Olympic record for winner Derartu Tulu of Ethiopia but finishing fourth herself. Later that year Radcliffe won the world half marathon title, which signaled that her future might lie in the longer distances.

      Radcliffe won a world cross-country long course gold in March 2001, a title she successfully defended in early 2002. She again finished fourth in the 10,000 metres, in the 2001 track world championship; she then charted a course toward the marathon, training in the Pyrenees, where she logged up to 225 km (about 140 miles) per week in training. She won her first-ever marathon in London in April 2002 with a time of 2 hr 18 min 56 sec. Later that year she competed in the Chicago Marathon. Her time of 2 hr 17 min 18 sec cut 89 seconds from the women's world record for the marathon and represented the biggest improvement in the event in more than 17 years. Radcliffe then won two gold medals within 10 days at the 2002 Commonwealth Games (5,000 metres) and European championships (where she ran history's second fastest women's 10,000 metres in drenching rain).

Sieg Lindstrom

      In 2003 Radcliffe set a new world record in the London Marathon with a time of 2 hr 15 min 25 sec. In 2004 she again earned a spot at the Olympics but had to drop out due to an injury. Still, she managed to win the New York City Marathon later that year, and she won the event again in 2007. Radcliffe finished a disappointing 23rd in the marathon at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing because of insufficient training after a stress fracture. A few months later, however, she won her third New York City Marathon. In recognition of her athletic achievements, Radcliffe was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 2002.

Ed.

 

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