lionbeatspanther. Your retort regarding the piano­ example shows little grasp of the fundamental iussue­ raised: a person with no hands can objectively know­ when I have played a wrong note and can rightfully­ criticise me on that basis. His or her ability to hit­ the right note has no objective bearing on the­ wrongness or otherwise of the note I played The problem­ with the 'only criticise if you can do better'­ argument is it effectively renders almost all criticism­ impossible, yet as I beleive I have shown, the argument­ is largely without logical foundation. That of course­ does not make any given piece of criticism inherently­ valid, nor does it preclude someone with experience of­ a particular activity or skill having a greater level­ of insight. I am not agreeing with those rather­ childish barbs hurled at Radcliffe, merely pointing out­ the logical flaws in the well-intentioned atttempts to­ defend her.

"retire and make way for the young"
­ hahahahaha what a stupid comment. the young as you call­ them, are entitled to run too, did they beat paula? no,­ because there are no better marathon runners in the UK,­ whether shes injured or not, she still beats all our­ other runners.
some people have very small brains and­ can't think things out at all before they speak, or­ write on yahoo.

a person with no hands, who hasnt tried or can't­ try to play the piano, doesnt know how difficult it is­ to play, so they have no grounds for complaining.
just­ as someone who hasnt tried to run a marathon, has no­ right to complain at someone who does try, especially­ if they carry an injury.
it is your argument that in­ nonesense.
if you are too lazy or have no athletic­ talent, you shouldn't be criticising others.­ i'm learning piano at present, and i also am a­ sportsman. i know how hard both things are to do and i­ wouldnt criticise those who have made it to the top,­ and give it their all in training and in competition.­ some people don't try as hard as they could, and­ paula can't be accused of that.

Sorry Joedee UK and Jason N, but your argument is­ specious. One doesn't have to be able to do, or­ have done, something oneself, in order to justifiably­ criticise someone else. After all very few people have­ been prime minister but I suspect many of us feel it­ fair to criticise those who are. Whether the speciffic­ criticism of Radcliffe bears scrutiny is another thing­ entirely, but the 'could you do any better'­ type of argument is largely without merit in almost all­ cases. Try this for example; I am a mediocre piano­ player, I think a person with no hands would be­ justified in criticising my playing despite the fact­ that they could (by definition) not do it better than­ me.

a good finish to a poor season for paula. with all the­ injurys shes had 4th isn,t that bad.

comment 5, ive never finished a marathon but ive eaten­ many a mars bar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you have never run a marathon then you cannot­ critize Paula, could you have run faster ?????? I think­ not

"Those that do can, those that used to teach­ & those who have never done sit on their backsides­ & critize"

# 1 Troika - you really are a nasty little filthy troll­ aren't you ? Maybe we should just called you­ Katrina ?

Paula has had some rotten luck and bad­ injuries yet I have no doubt she will still be going­ strong when you are long (thankfully) dead like all the­ other vanquished trolls , put out of their (and our)­ misery by the sword of justice and truth.

She will­ continue until London 2012 when she will be 38 and­ before anyone else jumps on the troll bandwagon with­ the retire now bleating , the last winner of the­ Olympic marathon in Beijing was 38 at the time of­ winning gold and had never won a single race beforehand­ (unlike Paula Radcliffe who is already a world champion­ and current record holder).

London will be the perfect­ setting for Paula if she is fit , home ground , home­ support advantage and none of the heat or humidity of­ either Athens or Beijing.

HAVE ANY OF YOU EVER FINISHED A MARATHON?