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Paula Radcliffe's heartbreak over sick daughter and devastating reason she left UK

This year's London Marathon is set to be a special one for the 51-year-old former world champion

Radcliffe will be on punditry duty for the BBC this weekend
Radcliffe will be on punditry duty for the BBC this weekend(Image: Simon Ackerman/WireImage)

For years, Paula Radcliffe was one of the golden girls of British athletics, with the long-distance runner earning a raft of titles and other accolades across her career.

A three-time winner of both the London and New York Marathons, she was previously the fastest female marathoner of all time, holding the women's world marathon record for 16 years with an incredible time of 2:15:25. A world champion in the marathon, half marathon and cross country, she also won European and Commonwealth titles in the 10,000 meters and 5,000 metres respectively.


Radcliffe also represented Great Britain at the Olympics in four consecutive Games between 1996 and 2008 and, while she never won an Olympic medal, she is remembered as an icon of GB athletics. Her various individual accolades include being named the 2002 BBC Sports Personality of the Year, multiple World Athlete of the Year awards and an MBE.


While she ended her competitive running career at the 2015 London Marathon, she returned to enter this year's editions of the Tokyo and Boston Marathons at the age of 51. But having announced she is "signing out" from road running after finishing the Boston race, Radcliffe will be on punditry duty for the BBC as part of their coverage of the London Marathon on Sunday.

The legendary runner's return to racing is made all the more impressive knowing it came after a very difficult period in her personal life, with her daughter diagnosed with cancer at just 13 years old. Here's what you need to know about Radcliffe's life away from running and the incredible battles her family have faced.

Daughter's cancer battle

Radcliffe met her husband Gary Lough, a former Northern Irish 1,500m runner, when he was her lodger at Loughborough University and they went on to marry in 2001.


They have since had two children together, with a daughter, Isla, born in 2007 and a son, Raphael, born in 2010.

However, the family were left heartbroken when Isla was diagnosed with a rare form of ovarian cancer at the age of just 13, having suffered with chronic stomach aches and bleeding.

"That's when we knew something wasn't right, and we went to the paediatrician," Radcliffe told MailOnline. "It then moved very quickly. On the Tuesday she visited the doctor, we had a scan on the Wednesday and one week later we were already in the hospital starting the first round of chemo.


'It's the hardest thing a parent can go through," she added. "You can support them and be with them the whole way through, but you can't do that chemo for them.

"It's horrible to watch your child suffering through that, but at the same time we believed that if it felt bad, it was killing the cancer.."

Radcliffe also revealed to the publication that she had asked her gynaecologist if she could freeze her eggs in case Isla's treatment left her infertile, while she also offered to cut off her hair to provide a wig for her daughter.


"He just looked at me and said, 'Look, she isn't going to want your 47-year-old eggs'," she said. "When she lost her hair, I said I would cut my hair off and get it made into a wig for her. She flat out refused that.

"We'd not told many people at the time, and she didn't want people asking why I'd done it. There are things you're not ready for – either going through it or as a parent. She doesn't know how it has affected her chances of becoming a parent."

However, Isla has since beaten the cancer and is now preparing to follow in her famous mum's footsteps by running in this weekend's London Marathon - her first ever marathon - at the age of 18.


BBC pundit Radcliffe will be watching on from the sidelines and is expecting to be overcome with emotion when she sees her daughter cross the finish line.

"It's an extremely emotional place to be anyway, when you see people turn that corner on the Mall and they realise they've done it," she said. "But when it's your little girl doing it, that's going to be a bit more emotional."

Devastating reason she left UK

While she is a legend of British athletics, Cheshire-born Radcliffe has lived abroad for the last two decades.


She decided to leave the UK after the 2004 Olympics, which proved to be a disappointing Games for the former world champion.

Radcliffe had been the favourite to win a gold medal in the marathon in Athens, but withdrew from the race just four miles from the finish line. She had suffered a leg injury two weeks earlier, for which she had been taking a high dosage of anti-inflammatory drugs, which in turn had an effect on her stomach and caused her to drop out at the 22 mile mark.

Five days later, she also pulled out of the 10,000 metres with eight laps remaining, still suffering from her marathon attempt.


In the wake of the double medal disappointment, Radcliffe admitted she felt "numb" and, after receiving negative press from some sections of the media, felt as if she'd "let the country down".

As a result, she moved to Monte Carlo following the Games and has lived there with her husband and two children ever since.

In an interview with the Telegraph, Radcliffe said she had made the move "for a variety of reasons," adding: "I was attracted to the better weather, I do altitude training in the Pyrenees, which is easy to reach from here, and I also wanted to bring my kids up to be bilingual, which I think is a big advantage in the modern world.


"Also, I found it too distressing to stay in England after what happened in Athens – I felt like I'd let the country down. I decided I didn't want to live somewhere where I was recognised all the time."

'Mortifying' live radio remark

Last year, Radcliffe issued an apology after wishing a convicted rapist competing at the Paris Olympics the "best of luck".

Dutch beach volleyball player Steven van de Velde was sentenced to four years in prison in 2016 after raping a 12-year-old British girl when he was 19. However, he served just 12 months of his sentence before being selected in the Netherlands squad for the Games.


In an interview with radio station LBC, Radcliffe had referred to doping offenders being allowed to return to sports after bans before saying of van de Velde: "I know that he is married now and has settled down.

"I think it's a tough thing to do to punish him twice and if he's managed to successfully turn his life around after being sent to prison, and to qualify and to be playing sport at the highest level, then I actually wish him the best of luck."

Following backlash over her comments, Radcliffe issued an apology on social media, saying: "I am mortified that I expressed it so badly and didn't condemn the rape out loud.

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"I do believe in second chances after serving punishment but think the Olympics should be for those who uphold the ideals - that's why I poorly brought the doping comparison in. I myself am shocked and disappointed at how I expressed this so badly.

"I am very sorry and should have done much better. I by no means meant to overlook the crime and meant to say those who don't uphold ideals should be excluded but can't be," she added. "I profoundly apologise and am deeply shocked and disappointed in myself and can't understand how I managed to convey it so badly."

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