PAULA CRIES, OSCAR FLIES & ERIC TRIES!
In the second part of our series of the 50 most stunning Olympic moments, RIAth AL- SAMARRAI looks at Paula’s pain, Becky’s heroics and Mary’s trip…
40 RADCLIFFE IN MELTDOWN
It ALL ended in tears on the side of a road.
Paula Radcliffe had gone to Athens in 2004 as a heavy favourite and in pursuit of the kind of medal that once seemed a formality in light of her other achievements in distance running.
Indeed, as a gauge of where she stood in that Olympic cycle, she had broken the marathon world record in both 2002 and 2003, the latter coming with a truly mind-boggling run that would not be matched until the springy-shoed age of 2019. But how wrong it went for Radcliffe on that biggest stage.
the athlete herself has never blamed the conditions for what transpired, even though it topped 35°C that day and humidity was around 31 per cent. On a tough course, it would have been a devilish environment in the best of times.
In this instance, though, she said her agonising abandonment of a dream around the 23-mile mark had nothing to do with the weather. In accepting that she could go no further while placed fourth and losing ground, she dropped to her haunches and wept in a show of utter devastation.
Part of the problem, it was later suggested, was a reaction to antiinflammatories she had taken for a leg injury. In detailing ‘the biggest day of my running’ in her subsequent book, she explained how after a night of endless trips to the toilet, her entire body started shaking violently during her pre-race ice bath.
Despite those signs, Radcliffe, then 30, had started well and was among the leaders through 15 miles, but she had started feeling awful stomach cramps. She would write: ‘the more I fought it, the worse it got. I tried to empty my bowels as best I could while running and for a while it did feel better. But after a bit, the cramp returned, got worse and I had to do it again.’
By 22 miles she said her legs felt like ‘sore lead weights’ and that she was empty inside. With only four miles to go she stopped and started to well up, before trying to go again. After a few yards she gave up and dropped to the kerb.
Five days later, amid harsh criticism of ‘quitting’, she started in the 10,000m final but dropped out with eight laps to go. A great of British running never did win an Olympic medal.
39 ADLINGTON AND OLDEST RECORD IN SWIMMING
tO WIn the 400m freestyle gold at the 2008 Olympics made Rebecca Adlington special. But in winning the 800m freestyle five days later, she became the first female British swimmer to win two golds, let alone at the same Games. What set her apart was the manner of that second victory considering what she did to the field and history. In regard to the former, she was more than six seconds clear of the silver medal; in relation to history she broke the longest standing world record in swimming. It dated back 19 years prior to 2008, the only mark to survive from the 20th century. Across 16 lengths, a bubbly teenager from Mansfield obliterated it.
38 RUSSIA GET KICKED OUT
It hAPPeneD outside of the Games, in november 2015, but the decision by the IAAF, now World Athletics, to kick Russia out of their sport for state- sponsored doping remains r one of the most significant moments m in sport’s recent history.
Only one heavily vetted Russian was authorised to compete in the athletics at Rio 2016 as a neutral — the long jumper Darya Klishina — and the nation quite rightly remain as pariahs and outcasts in the sport to this day.
37 BLADES OF GLORY
It SeeMS surreal to recall the days when Oscar Pistorius was known by the limited terms of being an inspiration to people with disabilities the world over. to think, in winning six Paralympic sprint golds on those distinctive blades, there was a time when the ‘fastest man on no legs’ was among the most recognisable sporting figures on earth.
It peaked with his appearance at London 2012 when, having won a lengthy battle through the courts, he was permitted to compete against able-bodied runners.
he was the first amputee to do so and went on to reach the semi-final of the 400m. he wrapped up a poignant Games by carrying the South Africa flag at the closing ceremony.
36 FREEMAN BRINGS A NATION TOGETHER
exPeCtAtIOn has rarely been heavier or dismissed so lightly. In that way typical of the