Beijing

"Paula Radcliffe, Britain's best hope for an Olympic gold medal, is on crutches just three months before the Games open in Beijing after developing a hip injury which has forced her to stop training. It is another blow for Radcliffe who was forced to miss the London marathon last month because of a toe injury and whose preparations for the Olympics are beginning to look increasingly compromised."
Full Guardian report here.

Shock news and comment on The Science of Sport here.

I'm not a huge fan of Runner's World, but I will buy any running magazine that has marathon superstar Paula Radcliffe on the cover. Well, I'm a Bit, and she's our best runner, male or female.

So the March RW cover story reveals that the 2:15 world record-holder Paula was "down to" 70 miles a week by month 7 of her pregnancy. Her earlier concession had been to slow from 5:30 to 6:30 per mile. And there's a picture of her in full stride, smile on her face, running that 42-minute 10k race in London's Hyde Park 14 weeks before giving birth.

"The day after a special 'Environment Forum' [in Beijing, China] dedicated to reassuring the athletics world that it had its air pollution under control, the city awoke to find itself engulfed by a thick pea-souper.

"Visibility was reduced to less than 50 yards, flights were delayed, major roads into the city closed and, most importantly, the smog was so serious that children and the elderly were told to stay indoors by the city's weather bureau.

"'Wear a face mask if you go out', its head, Sun Jisong, said. His office's report said the air was 'heavy with particulate matter'."

"Five-time world mountain running champion Jonathan Wyatt plans to hit the road in pursuit of his Olympic ambitions", reports the New Zealand Herald.
"The 33-year-old New Zealander is targeting the marathon in Beijing in 2008 and believes a top 10 finish is not beyond him. Wyatt has dominated the global mountain running scene for the past decade, winning the fifth of his world titles in front of more than 12,000 spectators in Wellington last year....."

* Full story at the NZ Herald website: www.nzherald.co.nz