THE MEDAL-WINNER
DEENA KASTOR, the United States runner who finished third in the women’s marathon on Sunday, pointed towards three mistakes Paula Radcliffe may have made on Sunday. Radcliffe took part in a warm-up that Kastor felt was unnecessary, she isolated herself and she began the race too quickly, according to Kastor.
Kastor took a calculated approach, declining to join the early leaders, and pulling through. It was part of a plan formulated by thorough research. She took the advice of two physiologists, who armed her with “hundreds of pages” of preparation documentation.
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“I surrounded myself with people I believe in,” Kastor said.
Not only did the physiologists’ reports convince Kastor to start cautiously and work through, she took friends and training partners to her preparation camp. Radcliffe cut herself off from the outside world.
Kastor was able to keep her mind off the intensity of the job facing her by enjoying training and a social life around it. “One of the greatest things I did was to have these guys training with me,” she said. “We laughed and it was playful, which took the pressure off.”
DAVID POWELL
THE EXPERT
DR GREG WHYTE, who has advised the Great Britain team how to cope with heat acclimatisation, said that “overheating” caused Paula Radcliffe to drop out of the marathon. Whyte, the head of science and research at the English Institute of Sport, said: “She stopped at the right time, otherwise she would have become seriously ill.”
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Competitors who push themselves beyond the core body temperature of 41C (105.8F) can suffer vomiting or diarrhoea. If they continue, they often suffer so acutely that they never compete again, as occurred with Jim Peters, when he collapsed at the 1954 Empire Games marathon. Whyte said death could result in extreme cases. Tommy Simpson, the British cyclist, collapsed in the 1967 Tour de France, and a post-mortem examination found that he died from heart failure aggravated by amphetamine use and heat exhaustion.
Asked if he was surprised by Radcliffe withdrawing, Whyte said: “I am just disappointed. They were brutal conditions. The way that she seemed to recover and pick up speed but then slowed indicates someone who was going up to a body temperature of 41C and then being forced to ease off.”
JOHN GOODBODY
THE COACH
WHILE the debate raged yesterday over the severity of the test of the women’s marathon, the coach of Britain’s leading hope for the men’s race on Sunday said that he welcomed the heat and undulating course. Temperatures close to 100F, and a hilly course, may have hindered Paula Radcliffe, but they should suit Jon Brown.
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Responding to comments made by Brendan Foster, the 1976 Olympic 10,000 metres bronze medal-winner now a BBC commentator, George Gandy, Brown’s coach, said: “Brendan said that this is not a true marathon, but I take the opposite view. This is a real race, a huge challenge. The big-city marathons, with their flat courses and pacemakers, are not a true test.”
The men’s race will start at 6pm local time, as did the women’s, in which 16 of the 82 starters failed to finish. Gandy said that Brown, who was fourth in Sydney, is in as good a shape now as he was then. Furthermore, Brown’s tactical awareness, Gandy said, would stand him in good stead.
Brown has prepared over hilly terrain and at altitude just outside Vancouver, followed by three weeks heat acclimatisation in Cyprus, an option Radcliffe chose to ignore. Watching the effect the conditions had on the women’s race will not have concerned him. “It has probably made him happier,” Gandy said. “Jon prefers a demanding course and conditions.”
DAVID POWELL
THE PROMOTER
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PAULA RADCLIFFE will be able to command a greater appearance fee for her next marathon because of how her race finished on Sunday than she would had she won the gold medal. That is the view of Carey Pinkowski, the executive director of the Chicago Marathon, where Radcliffe set her first world record two years ago. Radcliffe should be able to command some £500,000 for her next race.
“She is still the great marathon runner in the world,” Pinkowski said. “I would still offer her more money than I would anyone else. The focus of the marathon is her. Her commercial value has gone up because people are going to have great interest in how she deals with this in her next race. So she wins here. Ho-hum, what’s the big news? The fact that she did not win is the news.
“These were the worst conditions I have seen for a marathon. But it is the difference between a commercial marathon and a championship where courses are flat and races are scheduled (in spring and autumn).
“In a commercial marathon, Paula can beat anyone else by four minutes. She will shake it off. She is a great champion and champions deal with adversity.”
DAVID POWELL
THE PAST MASTER
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DON THOMPSON, the long-distance walker who prepared famously for the sweltering heat of the Rome Olympics in 1960 by exercising in his bathroom, which was heated to 40C, believes that Paula Radcliffe may have done herself more harm than good in preparing for the conditions in Athens by training in a similarly hot climate in Spain.
“I did train in the bathroom about three times a week from May to September, but I didn’t stay in there long each time,” Thompson said. “Only about 30 minutes, and I think it was more a boost to my confidence.
“I think I did myself a lot of good by staying in England to prepare. Whether all this heat acclimatisation training is any good, I’m not so sure. I didn’t even do any serious training after I got to Rome for the Games and frankly I was very happy only to experience the heat in the race itself.”
Thompson, who earned the nickname “The Mighty Mouse” after winning the Olympic 50-kilometres title in Rome, still runs and last year, at the age of 70, competed in the London Marathon, when Radcliffe broke the world record. “I think I was about three hours behind Paula,” he said.
PETER NICHOLS