Was Paula Radcliffe the biggest genetic outlier in running history? Underappreciated on Letsrun

You aren't making any sense.

Her 30.00 when she won the 10,000 in the European championships in Munich on an absolutely a palling day with a waterlogged track which must’ve added quite a bit of time to her overall time. In ideal conditions on that day she might’ve achieved around 2940 for 10,000. She made Sonia O’Sullivan and Ribeiro look like also-rans on that day. She was the hardest worker and all the work she did paid off magnificently.

The greatest out and out liar here? Lots of competition. She is in the conversation.

She was associated with stories about PEDs and failed to condemn Salazar, that's enough for me.

Possibly. Reminds me a lot of Kostas Kenteris.

Definitely the best female head bobber to ever run.

Everyone who is fast is accused of doping. It's an obsession that builds and builds.

All of the old times are going to be beaten without drugs. This is something you all need to understand, otherwise you are just part of the problem.

Michael Johnson set a world record that lasted even longer while running like he had a broom handle stuck up his ass

What is hard to understand?

In a sport dominated by East African runners she as a racially Northern European set a world record that stood for 15 years and was only defeated when new shoes were introduced that provided an unfair advantage. Genetic freak one in a million.

How soon we forget.

https://www.letsrun.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/paulawejo1.jpg

It could also be that she had a more sophisticated and effective doping regimen than her East African peers.

At this point I'd bet my life savings that she was a doper. When she was in her prime, she talked a good game about freezing her blood for future testing in the name of transparency, yet when the time came to be transparent she completely cowered and threatened lawsuits (and then lied about threatening lawsuits). It was all charade and just like Lance we were duped.

talent evaluator wrote:

It could also be that she had a more sophisticated and effective doping regimen than her East African peers.

At this point I'd bet my life savings that she was a doper. When she was in her prime, she talked a good game about freezing her blood for future testing in the name of transparency, yet when the time came to be transparent she completely cowered and threatened lawsuits (and then lied about threatening lawsuits). It was all charade and just like Lance we were duped.

We are allowed to say these things about other runners, but I've noticed that posts like this have been removed from Letsrun. In any case, I'd be shocked if she wasn't doping.

heelstriker wrote:

What is hard to understand?

In a sport dominated by East African runners she as a racially Northern European set a world record that stood for 15 years and was only defeated when new shoes were introduced that provided an unfair advantage. Genetic freak one in a million.

There might be more to the story. She ran that WR at the peak of the Epogen era.

EPO

Blood transfusions

HGH

Testosterone

T4

Clenbuterol

Corticosteroids

Joan Benoit Samuelson should be given some consideration for this:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Benoit

Be careful.... if you anger Paula, she will urinate on your street.

Ghost1 wrote:

Her 30.00 when she won the 10,000 in the European championships in Munich on an absolutely a palling day with a waterlogged track which must’ve added quite a bit of time to her overall time.

Yes - that was the starting point of her dominance. Before that, she - like Mo pre-2011 - used to get dropped before or at the beginning of the last lap. Doesn't sound like super genes to me.

What made her change (besides her secret Super Blood)? Box jumps or something? And sit-ups for Mo? Can't remember all the varying claims.

OP makes a good point, although I’ve been browsing the boards a long time and there’s no shortage of Paul love and even more hate on here. Many posts saying her WR was dirty. It was a major outlier up until 3-4 years ago. Doping or not, it’s impressive.

Even with doping, when was the last time a Western European man held a distance WR? I started watching when it was Tergat and Geb battling and I never really went back to check on that.

Rainy Day wrote:

when was the last time a Western European man held a distance WR? I started watching when it was Tergat and Geb battling and I never really went back to check on that.

Off the top of my head ...

5000m - 1982 - Dave Moorcroft

Marathon - 1985 - Steve Jones

10,000m - Vladimir Kuts - 1970s ?