Paula Radcliffe irritates the heck out of me!

That's my thinking. I'm also wondering if Paula's advocacy against EPO cheats managed to affect some Portuguese athletes adversely.

I reckon both of the last two posts are correct.

common wrote:

Let's get and keep something straight here: Antonio Cabral called Paula Radcliffe an "idiot and an analphabetic". . . . the son of a b1tch has been deleting posts from this thread all day that call him out on his embarrassing, a$$hole behavior.

I've been reading this thread with considerable interest, but have refrained from participating in the debate, because it's a time sink and probably fruitless. Paula obviously has many fervent fans, especially in Great Britain, and their views are unlikely to be altered by even the most reasonable, dispassionate critics or others who, for whatever reason, don't have especially positive feelings about her. But I am concerned by the personal attacks on Mr. Cabral. I don't know him, and don't know much about him other than what I've read on letsrun, but I would hate to see him or anyone who shares his views decide to leave this forum simply because it's just not worth the hassle.

Mr. Cabral did not call Paula Radcliffe an "idiot and an analphabetic." You are simply wrong about that, although I can understand how one might misread his comment in such a manner. But even if he has been disparaging of Paula, I don't see why he needs to apologize to you or anyone else on this thread. And after reading through all of the comments of all of the posters on this thread, I don't think that he is the one who needs to be "call[ed] out on his embarrassing, a$$hole behavior."

common wrote:

her 2:15 world record was set under IAAF rules in 2003. There is ample documentation that the rules of the time were followed, and that Paula herself protested the use of pacers at the 2003 London Marathon.

Aside from Paula's recent self-serving disclaimers in the wake of the IAAF's decision to confine women's world records to single-sex races, what is the "ample documentation" that "Paula herself protested the use of pacers at the 2003 London Marathon"? I followed the controversy rather closely, and this article is more in line with my understanding of the matter:

I was appalled by Paula's complicity in the 2003 pacemaking scheme, especially after Catherine Ndereba objected, and especially in light of what I had previously perceived to be Paula's genuine sense of fair play. And I was shocked by Paula's recent disclaimers about her own role in the decision to use male pacemakers in an otherwise all-female race and her suggestions that male pacemakers didn't actually assist her in running faster, since those disclaimers appeared to contradict her statements and conduct back in 2003.

Respectfully, here is Mr. Cabral's exact quote:

There were a number of heated exchanges that are no longer a part of the thread because Mr. Cabral has been abusing his moderator privileges and deleting those replies. So, the evidence is very much one-sided in favor of making it appear that Mr. Cabral is being unfairly accosted by a few of us in this thread. That is simply not the case. Mr. Cabral has been crafting the thread with his selective deletions, and it looks like he has been successful in making himself appear to be the victim.

And it looks like he convinced you, a lawyer and an intelligent person, that he is somehow justified in his actions. Sad.

My call for an apology is for two reasons: 1) His abuse of moderator privileges, and 2) His almost libelous description of Paula Radcliffe as an EPO cheat, as well as his tasteless and patently false description of her as an analphabet and an idiot.

How you can support his calling her those things, while criticising me for describing his behavior as obnoxious, boorish, misogynistic, and yes, a$$holish, escapes my understanding. I've had disagreements with you in the past, but always respected you, and sometimes even came around to your way of thinking. It disappoints me to know that you can be turned by such obvious misrepresentations, to the point where you read right past the very line (...an idiot and an analphabet) that Mr. Cabral wrote, and which you made the center of your reply to me.

If you're going to call me out, please be accurate in your representation of me, both for your own benefit as well as for the benefit of others.

Antonio Cabral wrote:I still remember when on the cross country the UK did compete with 3 teams when legally it´s just one citizenship: they had one British team, one Scotland team, and one North Ireland team. The same in soccer actually. What´s the other case that one country to compete as be 2 or 3 countries when in fact is recognized international law as one country ?

Is this the kind of privilege that you want for Paula ? Is this the kind of unfair competition that you want to rule ? Is this your kind impartial opinion that I might think about Paula ?

In soccer the UK has never had a team for Britain and also Scotland and Northern Ireland; rather the teams are England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (all essentially regions of Britain). In soccer this doesn't really give an advantage. Most good players are English, but one or two from Scotland or Wales, so a British team could be a little bit better. Wales are too bad to qualify for the world cup, and the others aren't much better, so in soccer there isn't much advantage.

Pretty sure this hasn't happened in cross country either. But in any competition where England etc. compete rather than Britain there would be at most 4 teams (out of about 60 million people). That's one team per 15 million people. In Portugal there is one team per 10 million people. Is that fair?

Does this really have anything to do with Radcliffe?

Antonio Cabral wrote:I still remember when on the cross country the UK did compete with 3 teams when legally it´s just one citizenship: they had one British team, one Scotland team, and one North Ireland team. The same in soccer actually. What´s the other case that one country to compete as be 2 or 3 countries when in fact is recognized international law as one country ?

Is this the kind of privilege that you want for Paula ? Is this the kind of unfair competition that you want to rule ? Is this your kind impartial opinion that I might think about Paula ?

In soccer the UK has never had a team for Britain and also Scotland and Northern Ireland; rather the teams are England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (all essentially regions of Britain). In soccer this doesn't really give an advantage. Most good players are English, but one or two from Scotland or Wales, so a British team could be a little bit better. Wales are too bad to qualify for the world cup, and the others aren't much better, so in soccer there isn't much advantage.

Pretty sure this hasn't happened in cross country either. But in any competition where England etc. compete rather than Britain there would be at most 4 teams (out of about 60 million people). That's one team per 15 million people. In Portugal there is one team per 10 million people. Is that fair?

Does this really have anything to do with Radcliffe?

Again, respectfully, you're being quite selective in your quotes. From the same article:

So, 1) it was within the letter, but perhaps no the spirit, of the rules, and 2) the IAAF's explicit concern was that the pacers would not finish the race, which was rendered moot when this happened:

For those who can't be bothered to watch the video, it shows the pacer running within 20 seconds of the finish line, but does not show him finishing the race. Sorry, you'll have to take Paula's own words as evidence to the fact that he did finish:

Now, as far as what "ample documentation" there is, one would probably have to get that from the governing body itself, the IAAF, from Dave Bedford, Director of the London Marathon, and from Paula herself. I don't know that it is posted online, but I'm quite sure it's documented. Do you doubt that it is?

Ms. Ndereba disagreed with the way that the race was set up by the Director. That is her right. She threatened to boycott the race. That is her right. She then chose to run the race, and she chose to cash the checks she was given in payment for her appearance and her 2nd place finish. Well earned, and congratulations to you Ms. Ndereba.

The lady she doth protest too much. And only when it suits her. I won't resort to calling her names for her self-interested actions, as Mr. Cabral did to Paula.

If we can dispense with the deletion of replies to this thread, you might get more truth than you care to read, Avocado.

Antonio Cabral wrote:You know what ? The top talented runner got good heart function, strong lactate, good muscles to run over distance body and legs.

But he/she can be a idiot and an analphabet, can have no idea how to speak.

Paula is great runner but she isn´t an intelectual.

Whhat is wrong is the day the public opinion considers that a great runenr can be comepetent to be President, to be from the Olympic committee, politics, deputee etc, when his/her credentials is that he/she was a greast runner.

Does Paula Radcliffe want to be any of those things? Really?

So, Avocado, you're just going to drive by and call me a liar? I've shown you very clearly that Mr. Cabral did indeed write the words you claim he did not. Are you interested in the truth, or only Mr. Cabral's version of the truth?

common wrote:

So, Avocado, you're just going to drive by and call me a liar? I've shown you very clearly that Mr. Cabral did indeed write the words you claim he did not. Are you interested in the truth, or only Mr. Cabral's version of the truth?

It's crazy isn't it? Thinking about this thread and the subject of the quote of the day reminds me of Bill Hicks: Nothing Goes Right!

For once I think Avocado got it wrong.

Mr. Cabral was clearly out of line.

Actually, you are the one who writes like an analphabet.

Antonio Cabral wrote:

You know what ? The top talented runner got good heart function, strong lactate, good muscles to run over distance body and legs.

But he/she can be a idiot and an analphabet, can have no idea how to speak.

Paula is great runner but she isn´t an intelectual.

Whhat is wrong is the day the public opinion considers that a great runenr can be comepetent to be President, to be from the Olympic committee, politics, deputee etc, when his/her credentials is that he/she was a greast runner.

Paula is an attention seeking personality and a drama queen. She is like these anorectic women who always talk about their health problems.

And her running looks silly.

' they had one British team, one Scotland team, and one North Ireland team'

When did they have a British team?

Get you facts right before coming out with your moronic comments

Did Paula rile you up because all your athletes are on EPO

Paula is lovely, its a shame her husband is a dork

what??? wrote:

Actually, you are the one who writes like an analphabet.

Go write some posts on the portugese version of letsrun, we will see how well you come off.

This thread is idiotic.

Actually, English is not my native language. Only vulgar non-intellectuals has a hard,. time to write in eglish.

haha YO wrote:

Go write some posts on the portugese version of letsrun, we will see how well you come off.

This thread is idiotic.

But he was calling Radcliffe an idiot because she wasn't too good at Spanish and Portuguese, but he did it in broken English.

Surely you would have to be a pretty strong linguist in order to started slating people for lack of ability in their 4th and 5th (at best) language.