Paula Radcliffe
Paula Jane Radcliffe is one of Britain's greatest distance runners. She was born December 17, 1973 in Northwich, Cheshire, and studied modern languages at Loughborough University. She broke the world record for the marathon during the London Marathon on April 13, 2003, running it in 2:15.25.She also holds the world records for 10, 20 and 30km on roads. She twice won gold at the World Cross-Country championships (in 2001 and 2002), and in December 2003 became European Cross-Country champion for the second time, the only woman to have achieved this feat in the event's ten-year history. Forced out of the Paris World Athletics Championships because of injury in 2003, her greatest moment on the track has been European gold at 10,000m in 2002. She has proved herself an incredible runner at distances as low as 5000m, too, running 14:31.42, just three seconds behind the world record, to win Commonwealth gold in 2002.
She was awarded an MBE in June 2002, and later in the year became the BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
Her athletic ability and commitment to training are accompanied by a strong belief in playing by the rules. She has frequently made high-profile condemnations of drug-cheating in the athletics.
See also Marathon (sport)
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