All her eyes are on Paula Radcliffe this afternoon as she goes for Olympic gold in the marathon.
She's due to start the gruelling 26.2 mile race in about 3 hours' time.
I pity her. It's incredibly hot and stifling here in Athens today. I couldn't walk to the end of the street and back, let alone run from Marathon to Athens. Runners who've completed the course say it's the toughest they've ever done.
Yesterday's Guardian had a fascinating article about Radcliffe -- her obsessive discipline, her punishing training regime and her diet of wheatgrass juice and ostrich steaks.
At about 2015 this evening we'll be down at the Panathanaiko Stadium as she runs, head bobbing, towards the finish line.
posted by Stuart at 14:53
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Here's a good news story from Athens that hasn't received much press: Matt Hemingway, the US high jump silver medalist. Matt grew up in Colorado, where his mom and dad were serving sacrificially at a small Christian camp in the Rockies (http://www.springcanyon.org/). His father, Tom, left a successful career as an officer in the US Marine Corps to follow God's call to minister. Matt was expected to make the 2000 Olympic Team and compete in Sidney, but didn't qualify at the US Team Trials earlier that summer. The day his Olympic competition would have begun -- 4 years and a day before his silver medal jump -- his dad unexpectedly died at their home of a massive heart attack. Matt was home where he needed to be to help his mom and siblings, when his father was called Home to be with the Son of our Most High God. As one of the oldest high jumpers at the Games, Matt continues to honor Christ in his life, marriage, and with his athletic gifts. Check him out at http://higher2fly.com/
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