English marathon world-record holder, Paula Radcliffe, had been suffering from a degenerative joint problem since June, and finally had to admit defeat on Sunday, July 29th, when she was forced to withdraw from the Olympic games after a failing a fitness test on her injured left foot.
Radcliffe was supposed to run in the race on August 5th but is being replaced by Scottish athlete, Freya Murray, if approved by the International Association of Athletics Federations under its ‘Late Athlete Replacement’ policy.
In the past, Radcliffe has had her troubles.
In 2004 she collapse before the finish of the Olympic marathon in Athens and during the Beijing games she went home in 23rd place. Now, at the age of 38, her Olympic career has come to an end with her latest breakdown. The closest she has ever come to winning an Olympic medal was when she was when she came in fourth place in the 10,000 meters in 2000 in Sydney.
Radcliffe has only raced once this year, in the Vienna Half-Marathon in April, where she experienced bronchial issues and had the slowest time of her career at the distance, ever. Since her last setback, her osteoarthritis condition, which she was diagnosed with in 2004, has worsened, and she was flown back to Munich for treatment, though her problems couldn’t be solved.
She continued to train, hoping that her injury would settle down, but the pain continued and the fitness test on Sunday confirmed that the London Olympics were out of her reach.
Getting Professional Treatment
It is always our express intent to recommend that you take no chances with foot pain, ankle or knee pain, or injuries. Professional treatment to relieve the pain is available from doctors such as Delray Beach’s Dr. Ian Goldbaum of Delray Beach Podiatry, who has provided us with this blog. If the pain continues, a podiatrist with Dr. Goldbaum’s experience should be consulted. You must get proper treatment to prevent permanent damage.
Our Staff writers are freelance writers with higher education related to, or experience researching and writing for, medical blogs; with education or experience equal to under graduate and graduate degrees in the fields of medicine. photo credit: mhs72reunion via photo pin cc
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