Paula Radcliffe

midget lord

It was difficult not to sympathise with her yesterday, but the commentators would really get on your nerve. They went from blaming the organisers to blaming the hot weather, instead of admitting that, on the day, she wasnt good enough. So what do you guys think?

BaZmO*

Yeah I have to agree, it's was really terrible to see her breaking down in such a state yesterday. But the lact of humility from the English commentators really gets on my nerves.
I watched it live yesterday and the commentators were going on about how this was her race and how much of a champion she is (which she undoubtedly is) but as you said, as soon as she looked like she was struggling they changed their tact, saying that the heat and the hilly course was a big factor.
What they fail to realise is that the heat and the type of course is the same for everyone involved. It really annoyed me when I was watching the race again later that night on the BBC and they changed the commentry at the beginning of the race saying that this was the hardest course in history and the worst weather and blah blah blah.
Fair enough that it's an UK station and with Radcliffe being from the UK they obviously want her to do well but it justs looks bad when they can't admit that she just wasn't good enough on the day. It was the same for all the athletes involved.

B.

Chucky the tree

i noticed that aswell. really pissed me off.

also, there were 2 british girls who finished 25 and 27, and they were hardly mentioned, yet they finished the race. so they cant have any excuses about it being up hill and all that. she just wasnt good enough.

BrookieD

I watched this yesterday and really felt for the girl, she had the pressure of the UK on her all week and this was bound to tell,

Although i am English i felt the Brits had talked her up so much and the poor girl on BBC 5Live today was being pushed into saying it was this and that but she stood up and said she just had nothing in her legs it was just a bad day at the office, she also stated that the weather was the same for the winenrs and loosers. She did her homework knew the coarse and also how hot is was going to be. she has no excuses at all. But still Steve Cram tried to say it was the weather etc... The Beeb really do talk some bull sh!t sometime but then all stations are gulity of this even RTE and TV3.

she will run again no doubt and maybe win or lose but at least she will not give up with another try. i say good luck to the girl better luck next time

MisterAnarchy

It was sad to see but not unexpected.
She has flopped on numerous other occassions before and there seems to be a big question mark over her temperament.
She herself said it wasnt the weather as she had trained extremely hard under all conditions.
I feel she may have had a slight injury which was coupled with the immense pressure placed upon her by the British nation ,a historical pressure which destroys most British hopes.
There is no such thing as a certainty in sport and to make her favourite despite the fact she hasnt run a marathon this year and is not the world or olympic champion is odd.

mike65

She'll be back but hopefully it'll be in the cool damp of an Autumn city marathon not the 10,000 metres on Friday....(or is it Saturday?) As for the beeb sure they go OTT but the same would be true of RTE in Atlanta 96 and look what happened there.

Mike.

BaZmO*

mike65 wrote:

As for the beeb sure they go OTT but the same would be true of RTE in Atlanta 96 and look what happened there

I agree totally, however I just feel that the English press put so much pressure on their sports personalities that when they fail, which is quite often, they seem to fail badly. I really felt for Radcliffe when she was giving her press conference yesterday and all she could say is that she felt terrible for letting everybody down, a sentiment I don't think that she would be feeling if it had not been for the emmense pressure heaped upon her shoulders by the press.

midget lord

In her interview with cram yesterday evening she apologised to the british public for letting them down. IMO this is a ****in disgrace. No athlete should have to go through that.

ecksor

I don't think she should have gone through that or felt that she should have had to go through that, but I think it's a product of the pressure she felt upon herself (for whatever reason, press etc) rather than something that was expected by the British public.

wrt the BBC vs RTE behaviour, I remember the hoohah over Sonia O'Sullivan giving an Irish flag back to someone in the crowd in Gothenburg after she'd won the 5000m. She was out there putting us on the athletics map and people were acting like she had committed treason. I think that was a product of the press at the time too. I think the BBC are quite good actually, they put in a lot of former athletes who know the score. They do talk the athletes up in their coverage, no doubt about it, but they're usally pretty decent in their interviews. When Sonia walked off the track in Atlanta I cringed when the RTE guy went over to get an interview when she was clearly in no fit state to be talking to the public.

midget lord

You certainly have a point eck, we can be just as bad when it comes to athletics. But i think its horrendous to see an athlete such as Radcliffe, world record holder and firm favourite, feel the need to apologise to the public for letting letting them down. She owes them nothing.

seamus

midget lord wrote:

You certainly have a point eck, we can be just as bad when it comes to athletics. But i think its horrendous to see an athlete such as Radcliffe, world record holder and firm favourite, feel the need to apologise to the public for letting letting them down. She owes them nothing.

I'm not entirely sure that was the point of it. I only saw what the news showed, but I think it was she who had wanted a press conference, just to say that. I don't think that the British public or press at all felt like she owed an apology, I think it was she herself who felt like she had let them down, that she owed the apology. I would be more disappointed if they didn't give her the chance to say it, as it was obviously the one thing that had upset her the most about dropping out. That's just the way it is.

BaZmO*

seamus wrote:

I'm not entirely sure that was the point of it. I only saw what the news showed, but I think it was she who had wanted a press conference, just to say that. I don't think that the British public or press at all felt like she owed an apology, I think it was she herself who felt like she had let them down, that she owed the apology. I would be more disappointed if they didn't give her the chance to say it, as it was obviously the one thing that had upset her the most about dropping out. That's just the way it is.

But I think the point that she felt she had let them down was due to the amount of pressure they had put on her prior to the race. But I suppose you could say that that's just the nature of the beast!!

midget lord

seamus wrote:

I'm not entirely sure that was the point of it. I only saw what the news showed, but I think it was she who had wanted a press conference, just to say that. I don't think that the British public or press at all felt like she owed an apology, I think it was she herself who felt like she had let them down, that she owed the apology. I would be more disappointed if they didn't give her the chance to say it, as it was obviously the one thing that had upset her the most about dropping out. That's just the way it is.

But this is exactly the point seamus. "I think it was she herself who felt like she had let them down, that she owed the apology", she doesnt owe them a thing. Times are bad when athletes are made feel they have let the public down.

seamus

midget lord wrote:

But this is exactly the point seamus. "I think it was she herself who felt like she had let them down, that she owed the apology", she doesnt owe them a thing. Times are bad when athletes are made feel they have let the public down.

I'd say that's the nature of the beast tbh. Even if I was competing in some minor little crappy competition, and my family came along simply for support, and I failed, I'd feel like I let them down, like I'd wasted their time.

midget lord

seamus wrote:

I'd say that's the nature of the beast tbh. Even if I was competing in some minor little crappy competition, and my family came along simply for support, and I failed, I'd feel like I let them down, like I'd wasted their time.

Yeah, your right. Its an ugly beast.

uberwolf

in terms of the weather I think there is something to be said for the commercial interests being more important than the athletes. I didn't see the marathon but I do know that the cyclists endured temperatures of 38 degrees celsius, and the race lasted 6 hours. I know everyone suffers the same condiions but that does discriminate against athletes from temperate climes. Of course pissing rain works against the african runners. But the point is that any area which has a hich occurence of extreme weather shouldn't be able to host the olympics. Not to say anything of the pollution

Flukey

I think everyone felt for her. She was very upset. Sonia wasn't the same. She was disappointed in her performance but Paula really took hers very hard. She has nothing to be ashamed of. Like Sonia, she has had her great days.

josh40

:rolleyes: The truth is fair or not ,athletes owe a lot to their fans, it is after all their support that eggs them on to greatness. I felt very sorry for Paula but I think she was right to acknowledge the fans who had paid a fortune to come and support her.

There is no country in the world where conditions are right for all athletes, that's why all top class athletes train in all kinds of conditions.It wasn't so much the heat that bothered her, and many other athletes, it was the humidity, and it was one groggy, sticky day!

mike65

mike65 wrote:

She'll be back but hopefully it'll be in the cool damp of an Autumn city marathon not the 10,000 metres on Friday....

Mike.

I wuz right!

Mike.

ecksor

Hm?

I think she was right to try.

Amz

ecksor wrote:

I think she was right to try.

Definitely she was right to give it a go, she would have felt worse, mentally anyway, had she given up after the disappointment of the marathon. At least now she can say she gave it a shot and there are no "what ifs" etc.

daveirl

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Flukey

WEll it could be argued that she had nothign to lose and possibly a lot to gain. Like our Sonia, she has been a good representative in her field over the years and has much to look back on and be proud of. Neither of them shoyuld be remembered only for what they have done in the 2004 Olympics, but for the achievements of their careers to date.

daveirl

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LegacyUser

Paula is an absoulute DISGRACE!!!

she is a disgrace to me,to you,to herself and most of all to her country.

A Donkey would have run faster.
She is an embaressment to team GB and should never be allowed to run again.
Why couldnt we at least get someone who can at least finish the god damn race?!?!

Amz

Someone like you?

What's your time for the marathon or the 10,000 metres?

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Amz

*shrug*

There are a few posts like that (unregistered, not abusive) on this forum.

ecksor

It was something of a compromise offered to the users of another irish athletics forum which I offered an alternative to because it was going well down the toilet about 18 months ago.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

mike65

Thats a bad idea, if you want to post you should register and be known!

Mike.

ecksor

Thanks Mr. 65. Mike is it? I'll make sure to consult you the next time.

ciaranodc

James K wrote:

Paula is an absoulute DISGRACE!!!

she is a disgrace to me,to you,to herself and most of all to her country.

A Donkey would have run faster.
She is an embaressment to team GB and should never be allowed to run again.
Why couldnt we at least get someone who can at least finish the god damn race?!?!

You're a di*k head!!!

ecksor

Since you're new to boards I should warn you that such name calling is generally frowned upon and will usually get you banned. I'll let you away with that one though since I can't bring myself to stand up for the sort of comment you were responding to.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

LegacyUser

i think it's pretty crap that like she's built up so much by the british media that they then have to contradict themselves when their athletes don't perform, but what really pisses me off is that the athletes who did finish in 25 and 27 didn't get a mention. the course was the exact same for them , they finished, they are english, And guess what, the english commentators don't mention that 2 good athletes (not outstanding but very talented) at all after their "hero" who was only mediocre up to maybe 3 years ago pisses up the show and drops the damn ball and quits

Amz

You only watch British sports coverage do you Dahellmonster?

Do you believe that this is a uniquely British phenomenon?

Gimme a break! It happens everywhere.

Why you're crticising Paula for how the British media presents her is beyond me.

I'd also like to know how many Olympic or top class international marathons you've run in to be able to comment as harshly as you do, on how Paula dropped "the damn ball" etc..

Care to elaborate on your own athletics career?

Pherekydes

Amz wrote:

I'd also like to know how many Olympic or top class international marathons you've run in to be able to comment as harshly as you do, on how Paula dropped "the damn ball" etc..

Care to elaborate on your own athletics career?

That's right! Only people who are expert in a given field can comment.

If that was the case, internet message boards would cease to exist.

Amz

My point was that unless someone has actually trained for and prepared both mentally and physically for such an event, in the same way Paula Radcliffe and others like her did, they cannot fully comprehend the stresses etc. placed on an athlete in those circumstances.


Internet message boards will always exist because people are all too eager to comment on things regardless of their level of knowledge or understanding of them.

There is a huge difference between an opinion and an informed opinion.

GuanYin

uberwolf wrote:

in terms of the weather I think there is something to be said for the commercial interests being more important than the athletes. I didn't see the marathon but I do know that the cyclists endured temperatures of 38 degrees celsius, and the race lasted 6 hours. I know everyone suffers the same condiions but that does discriminate against athletes from temperate climes. Of course pissing rain works against the african runners. But the point is that any area which has a hich occurence of extreme weather shouldn't be able to host the olympics. Not to say anything of the pollution

There is a very simple reason why Radcliffe failed in Greece and it's a reason documented enough for any decent journalist to report, but strangely none did.

Paula Radcliffe has athsma and would probably use symbicort or a similar steroid when not competing. Greece is probably one of the most air polluted cities in Europe and Athens and particularly the marathon route were subjected to huge pollution reduction programmes and restrictions pre-olympics. Even with these in place, the route would be far more polluted than any other marathon route and add the heat and humidity (which would make any athelete struggle) and you are asking an awful lot of an athsma sufferer off their usual steroid inhaler.

Strangely, I didn't see one newspaper pick up on the fact that Radcliffe was at an extreme disadvantage in those conditions....

Pherekydes

Amz wrote:

My point was that unless someone has actually trained for and prepared both mentally and physically for such an event...they cannot fully comprehend the stresses etc. placed on an athlete in those circumstances.

I disagree. Some people can be sensitive to the stresses other people can be under, without having undergone the same stresses, in my opinion. But I'm not a psychologist, so my opinion of others' stresses are worthless in your opinion, unless you're not a psychologist, in which case your opinions are worthless (in your opinion).

ecksor

What qualifies one person to be sensitive to another person's stresses?

Pherekydes

ecksor wrote:

What qualifies one person to be sensitive to another person's stresses?

Sensitivity.

ecksor

That would appear to be true by definition. I was presuming that the use of the phrase "be sensitive to" was being used as a synonym for "empathise" though (remarkably, m-w.com agrees with me). Were you also presuming this, and if so do you honestly believe that anyone can empathise with an elite runner who is an overwhelming favourite for an event but doesn't achieve his/her objective on the day?

Pherekydes

ecksor wrote:

and if so do you honestly believe that anyone can empathise with an elite runner who is an overwhelming favourite for an event but doesn't achieve his/her objective on the day?

Not just anyone, but those who are empathetic. Some people are more sensitive than others, and I wasn't being facetious when I said sensitivity.

Most people have an idea of what failure feels like, and what it is to prepare for something. One doesn't have to be an expert in a given field to understand those types of stress.

Cheers and goodnight!

ecksor

I guess you weren't being facetious when you said empathetic either, but it amounts to the same comment.

I don't believe that most people have invested the sort of time, effort and committment on something that so many other world class opponents are trying to prevent you from having that would compare to the case we're discussing here. That's without feeling as if you have to live up to the expectations of most of the population of your country. Can you give us examples of the types of failures you mean that most people have experienced that compare to that?