Paula Radcliffe blamed "everything but myself" as she tearfully explained one of the "most humiliating performances" of her career. The World Marathon record holder said that she was "disgusted" at being beaten by "nobody Jo Pavey" and conceded that she "had never heard of" Gemma Steele who pipped her to second place. The multi-millionaire sobbed into BBC microphones as she explained how injury continued to hamper her performances, but had firm words too for race winner Jo Pavey.
"I thought she [Pavey] showed a lack of class at the start" said Radcliffe "she told me that the swoosh on her Nike kit was bigger than mine because Nike preferred her to me. It's really disappointing when someone treats you like that, very poor." Radcliffe was also left frustrated when her fans did not seem to recognise her. So long has it been since she last ran a race in anger, the former World Champion was accosted at the start by hundreds of Harry Potter fans who had confused her with star actor, Daniel Radcliffe. The excitable group of teenage girls were none too happy when they realised that the Radcliffe on show was not their bespectacled hero, but "some blonde woman who kept waving at us".
Radcliffe refused to rule out the possibility of competing at "the next three Olympics" but did admit that she "had lots of work to do". "Clearly 250 miles a week isn't enough, because I always seem to be injured on that" sobbed the mother of two "I am going to double it and that should help. I just hope that something crazy doesn't happen that will force me to blame everything else for my world caving in again." Radcliffe will be 38 in December.