Brit Quits Marathon

Brit Quits Marathon

Judging from the media coverage, you'd think all England assumed their female marathoner Paula Radcliffe would win the gold, so it's quite a shock that she just stopped running yesterday seconds after she fell into fourth place. The Guardian's front page story this morning slips in a graf that tries to blame America for their athlete's decision to quit.

Radcliffe's traumatic failure will reopen the question over why organisers bowed to pressure from US broadcasters to stage the event in the early evening heat, not in the morning.

"Quit," by the way, isn't a word I've yet seen used in relation to her decision to stop running. Thus far the media I've seen here has been very gentle with her.
- posted by Amy @ 8/23/2004 05:32:00 AM