I seem to remember many moons ago, Dave Moorcroft at (I think) the LA games in the 10000 metres picked up an injury which meant that he could hardly walk let alone run. His attitude was if I ever give up in a race I’ll always think that I can just stop when the going gets tough rather than continue. To David this was not Acceptable so he continued round the track painfully hobbling to the finish. That took more guts than I could ever dream of possessing.
Again one of our 400 metre runners (again the memory clouds are thickening) pulled a muscle inan Olympics (Atlanta?) and continues to hobble round for exactly the same reasons.
I would have had considerably more respect for Paula if she had walked home rather than pull out with all the hystrionics, that said she had considerably more media attention than the two cases I have quoted. But she knew that would be the case.
Its not about the winning its about the taking part. She gave up! Contrast this with Kelly Holmes who (like Paula) spent years getting her butt kicked on the big occasions, knew she was the favourite and ran her heart out in very difficult conditions. Or Tanny Grey-Thompson who gets beaten , shrugs her shoulders and gets on with things, comes back and wins, no tears to cry for sympathy she jsut gets on with it.
That said the return in New York was first class and proved that she is the person to beat in the womens marathon. Congratulations.
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