Paula's victory an inspiration to all

Aug 6 2002 Report By Ian Gordon

SHE may not have won six golds, but Paula Radcliffe's 5,000 metres victory in the City of Manchester Stadium was every bit as significant as Ian Thorpe's displays in the Aquatics Centre.

While Thorpe left an indelible size 17 imprint on the Games, despite missing out on the dream of seven titles, so Radcliffe produced a performance that sent out a shockwave to her rivals.

The 28-yearold took herself to a new plane of performance when she shrugged off the tag as the plucky British loser - a label which had seemed destined to dog her for ever.

Radcliffe's destruction of the field on super Sunday, with the 38,000 crowd screaming her on all the way, will linger long after the track is ripped up and the stadium transformed into a home for Manchester City.

Radcliffe, who has waited a decade for her maiden track gold at a major championships, hopes that more will follow as she bids for the European 10,000m crown in Munich tonight.

If Radcliffe's victory was by a considerable margin, it was a different story in the men's relays as England's 4x100m and 4x400m quartets won by the aggregate margin of 0.01secs.

Those relay wins came during a final evening of competition that turned into a Last Night of the Poms as six times Land of Hope And Glory rang out to acclaim yet another home win.

The extra puff of his chest, which local hero Darren Campbell had managed on the final leg of the sprint relay final, brought the Manchester United fanatic the gold he desperately wanted in the planned new home of rivals City.

Kelly Holmes and Michael East - Michael who? - achieved a 1,500m double, with East's win the first by a British male middle-distance runner since Peter Elliott 12 years before.

Then there was Ashia Hansen retaining her triple jump crown with a memorable and gutsy final-round leap and Steve Backley regaining his javelin title with a first throw that put him out of sight of his rivals.

England's finest brought home 12 golds and 29 medals in all, with hammer-throwers Lorraine Shaw and Mick Jones, and long jumper Nathan Morgan, savouring their moment in the spotlight alongside the likes of Radcliffe and Jonathan Edwards.

There were disappointments, particularly for Wales, with Colin Jackson missing out on a treasured third high hurdles gold as his Commonwealth career ended as it had begun 16 years before - with silver.

There were two silvers for countryman Matt Elias behind England's Chris Rawlinson in the 400m hurdles and the 4x400m relay, as the Welshman breathed fire on the last leg.

But even as the home athletes - and Scotland's Lee McConnell and Jamie Quarry's medalwinning efforts should not be forgotten - dragged their weary limbs from the City of Manchester Stadium, there was a note of caution from Campbell.

The man brought up on Moss Side warned that the emotion and energy expended during six days of action in the magnificent Manchester stadium might mean the athletes suffering a backlash of disappointment in the forthcoming European championships.