Some atheletes need to learn to graciously

[Uhu]

Did anybody else watch the heptathalon and marathon? I was dipping in and out to watch the progress of each. Denise Lewis dropped out when she realised that she was no longer a medal contender and Paula Radcliffe dropped out "due to heat exhaustion" when she only had 3 miles left to run. Why? In the marathon,if the "lesser" runners could continue and finish, why couldn't she? After all, PR is a champion and would have trained very hard for this. Everybody knew that Athens was hot and for commentators to imply that the heat was too much for her was in my mind, making excuses. PR is a phenomenal athelete and I think she has let herself down by dropping out of the race when she only had 3 miles to go. DL is also a great champion and initially I thought she had a injury but it turns out that she lost all hope in winning.

I have never been a champion of anything so I cannot appreciate the mental anguish that these people endure when they know they are going to lose but they should take note of a true champion like the Ethiopian, Haile Gebrselassie. He was 2 times Olympic champion of the 10,000 race. He was aiming for a 3rd gold medal but in the end he came 5th, still a good position. He did not drop out when the going got tough. Champions win races but they also accept defeat graciously.

[carla]

Uhu, think the jury's out on this one. At least it is listening to FiveLive.

[Mosschops30]

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[Twinkie]

Uhu - as someone who has never been a champion I feel you are being terribly hard on PR and DL - you have no idea what it takes either physically and mentally adn if I were either fo them I wouldnever race again if I was wearing a vest that bore the british flag when people like you make up the population of the country she is competing for.

PR was obviously distraught and completely at the end of her rope when she sat down and could not go on - a harder decision I could not think of for a professional sportswomen - and I bet she thuoght she had to try and keep going far longer than she would have just to quiet the people like you who would be mean about her!!

I read a thing a few days ago saying that PR had gone through the most excruciating time trainaing for these games and she is desperate to get it over with and start a family and she doesn;t know whether she can afetr all she has out her bidy through and the tahnks she gets is crap like this!!

As for DL she must have had her own reasons and as for the Ethiopians did you not see the race where they cheated and were terribly unsporting and boxed in the Kenyons so HGS could win!!

I feel the athletes that don the British vest and any vest for that matter need our support and not our criticism.

Go Paula and Go Denise IMO!!

[Twinkie]

God if she were on mumsnet saying I have to do this certain thing but all I can think of is my need for a child that I don't know I will be able to have we all would have been a bit more sympathetic.

The sobbing is what comes from being totally overwhelmed I think and totally wasted after running so long in such high temps.

Give the poor women a break!!

[popsycal]

I see what you are saying however....

Paula Radcliffe is used to being unlucky - look at the last olympic games when she led the race until the bitter end. She did all the work and set the pace and ended up with 4th (i think).

She is a fantastic athelete and someone for whom I personally have a lot of admiration. To stop as she did so close to the finish will be such a massive deal for her.

I really do feel for her and don't think that it is a matter of losing gracefully at all. She has the strength of personality to lose. She was simply exhausted - there is more to it than this.

IMO

[popsycal]

twinkie said what i wnated to say far better!

[SenoraPostrophe]

Come off it Uhu - if she had screamed and stamped her feet and demanded a re-run I'd agree with you. But running a marathon is not like, say, finishing your homework.

Apart from anything else they don't usually run the whole distance in training and it's very difficult to judge the effect of the heat. Give her a break!

[Twinkie]

From the BBC website - maybe someone who knows nothing about the effects on the body and the shear hell that these athletes go through trainaing and competing should be quiet!!

Radcliffe 'devastated'


Report: Radcliffe suffers agony
The race as it happened
Photos of Paula's pain
BBC pundits' reaction to the race
Paula Radcliffe would only say she was "devastated" as she left the Panathinaiko stadium in Athens after pulling out of the Olympic marathon.
The pre-race favourite succumbed to the searing heat at the 36km mark and was later taken to a medical centre where she was put on a saline drip.

A spokesman for the British Olympic Association described her as "emotionally and physically drained".

Radcliffe will hold a news conference at 1430BST on Monday.

There are suggestions she may yet decide to run in Friday's 10,000m following her defeat, but that is still thought to be unlikely given how exhausted she was after the race.

Liz Yelling, her team-mate and former training partner, finished 25th and said she had been surprised by the ferocity of the marathon course.

"It was awful," she said.

"I went over the profile and there was supposed to be some flat spots - I didn't see any.

"I am gutted for Paula - I know how hard she has trained, how much dedication and sacrifice she has made. She wanted this one so badly."

David Bedford, the former British 10,000m world record-holder, is convinced that Radcliffe's task was impossible.

"I think it is well nigh impossible for a northern European to win in these conditions," he told The Times.

Analysis:
Where did it go wrong?
"Up to 10,000m it could possibly be done but by the half-marathon distance, it becomes too demanding."

Bedford, now race director for the London Marathon, added: "I think the gap in Paula's superiority was not enough to counteract the heat problems that she encountered.

"When northern Europeans run in this intense heat, they get a tremendously dry throat, which any amount of drinking will not affect.

"In the later stages, competitors will get a coldness on the outside of the body and dizziness in the head.

"The legs will increasingly begin to feel weak and they will have trouble running on a straight line.

"But Paula took it on, gave it her best and this does not mean that she is not a great athlete."

Our man in the crowd:
'Paula's party falls flat'
UK Athletics endurance coach Alan Storey was watching the race on the big screen in the stadium when Radcliffe was forced to stop.

He told the Daily Telegraph: "We knew where she was but it was traffic chaos out there and we couldn't get to her.

"We knew there was a first aid station at the 35km mark so the simplest, safest and best course of action was to instruct an ambulance from there.

"She was assessed in the ambulance and deemed well enough to come here and so she was brought in to see the doctor."

[Mosschops30]

Message withdrawn

[popsycal]

which commentators?
certainly didnt hear it on tv

[Twinkie]

She didn't look like she just pulled out cause she wasn't going to win and I didn't hear anything like that - she looked exhausted and in danger of putting herself in hospital - ih which she did on a saline drip doe to exhaustion and dehydration - why not save your comtempt for Greek athletes and their silly going ons and back good honest people like PR up??

[sugarplumfairy]

Have watched alot of the games and was gutted when PR was slipping further back but was shocked when she just stopped.

I understand that it was v hard and its a mental thing to get your body to keep going and obviously her mind just went when the gold became out of reach. So while not trying to make excuses for her she genuinely could not carry on.

But at the end of the day it was only a race, I think the media made too much of the fact she was favorite so she might have thought that only gold was good enough.

[carla]

There was someone on FiveLive who suggested that, Popsy. I certainly could not even contemplate attempting to achieve something like that, nor could most of the commentators, so what do we/they know? Poor girl.

[Piffleoffagus]

disgusted, this woman has worked her guts out, she suffered pneumonia less than 7 months ago.
Why should she put her career, health and life on the line for such ungrateful citizens.
She owes us nothing!!!
Also why do britain not send a football team, of at least up and coming chaps?
Apathy no wonder this country cannot take a major tournament.
It was 100 degrees F in high humidity, the sodding ancient greek guy Phidipadaes who coined the race, dropped dead after it, ok so he had been to battle and had bare feet..
Denise Lewis should never have been competing, she is well injured and has been all year...

[popsycal]

agree with piffle

i asked my footy loving male mate the football question - apparentnly it is not deemed to be an important enough competition to send the tp 11 so we send the under 23s

hmmmmm

[Piffleoffagus]

and ask the same question of say tennis players, all of the top players "lost" except for the gutsy returnign from injury had something to prove Justine Henin.
not enough money there eh?
That is sickening when we consider how much money goes into tennis in this country

[Twinkie]

We don;t put a footie team in because it is British not a seperate nation - can you imagine the hooha over who is going to run the team and play etc - as it was Ronaldo had to really stand up for himself against Sir Alex to play for Portugal so what hope did the other guys have - and as these people have a fixtures list and work nmost of the year it would be harder for them to fit it in and be healthy and not completely drained - they remember do not get to pick which tournaments they get entered in whereas atheletes generally run their whole calenders on when these majors will be and can opt out of other things throughout the year to ber fit and ready for them!!

[gothicmama]

We don't send a Gb footbal team because if we did FIFA would not allow England Wales SCotland Northern Ireland to compete as individual nations in FIFA competitions

[popsycal]

maybe my mate is a cynic then......

[Uhu]

Interestingly, most of the comments have been about PR but I also mentioned DL. With respect to PR, every single other athelete in that race experienced the same conditions as her. I bet, that if she had managed to stay with the leading group, she would have continued. If the other atheletes could continue in that heat, why couldn't she? That is what she trained for. Yes, the media put pressure on our atheletes but equally, they thrive on the attention and adulation that they receive. Surely, that is one of the reasons why they strive to become champions. They also reap the financial benefits in terms of sponsorship that being in the media spotlight gives them so don't say they are under too much pressure. I just don't think atheletes should be sending out the message to give up when the going gets tough! But hey, what do I know!

[popsycal]

I really don't think she 'gave up when the going gets tough'.

In my opinion, it took more balls to stop than to continue.

If you will pardon my Frecnh.....

[Piffleoffagus]

weak chest - high humdity
I can vouch for near death on that one
fair enough she knew and trained, gave it her best shot, not good enough here..
so she is not pefect lets not flay her for it!

[Twinkie]

Bedford, now race director for the London Marathon, added: "I think the gap in Paula's superiority was not enough to counteract the heat problems that she encountered.

"When northern Europeans run in this intense heat, they get a tremendously dry throat, which any amount of drinking will not affect.

"In the later stages, competitors will get a coldness on the outside of the body and dizziness in the head.

"The legs will increasingly begin to feel weak and they will have trouble running on a straight line.


God its not like she is some publicity hungry monety chaser like Beckham is it - give her a break she couldn't do it I am sure she feels shitty enough!

[hercules]

She's asthmatic ffs in that heat.Personally I think that by stopping rather than killing herself she is an excellent example to children!

[popsycal]

I think she is one of the best examples to children there is in athletics at the moment.