Stephen Emery has reacted angrily to predictions on the popular running forum, eightlane that he will not win a medal at this weekend's BUCS Championships. The website invited its posters to predict how the Championships might turn out and only one post mentioned Emery as a contender for the 5,000m - predicting a 5th placed finish in 14:56.
"F****** outrageous" thundered Emery from his weekly press conference "who the f*** do they think they are? How can they f****** count me out? It's f****** mental if you ask me. I am the bronze medalist! FIFTH? You've got to be kidding me." Emery famously ran a "sensible" race last year to secure his place on the podium - but faced criticism from Steve Cram for "never even trying to win it".
The Coventry Godiva star also denied that his success has gone to his head. Emery has been criticised for "lauding his success" over close pals. "I only display the medal at weekends" said the engineer "and the picture on the wall was a gift". In response to accusations that he is often "over-hydrated", Emery threw his water bottle (room temperature) across the room. "Nonsense" blasted the 3:48 (Stretford Timing) 1500m man "they'll try anything to get at me, before my big day. Just you wait until I'm the champion - then you'll all see what correct hydration looks like".