In her first Games in '96 Paula Radcliffe comes a promising fifth in the 5,000m unaware of Olympic heartaches to come

The 2000 Sydney Olympics brings despair as Radcliffe misses out on a medal finishing fourth over 10,000m

Radcliffe fights-back at the world half-marathon in November 2000 with a convincing, confidence-boosting victory

But in the 2001 World Championships it's agony again as she leads the 10k until the last lap but is passed by three Africans

The European record is broken at the world half-marathon event in October 2001 as Radcliffe bounces back in style

Commonwealth gold in 2002 propels her to a maiden gold at the Europeans in the 10k and a Chicago marathon win

In December 2002 Paula wins the BBC Sports Personality trophy by the widest margin in the award's history

A second victory at the London Marathon in April 2003 bodes well as she also easily smashes the world record

But the ultimate low comes in the Olympics again as her marathon dream ends in tears when the heat take its toll

Facing the world's press after her horror marathon run Radcliffe cannot give any reason for her surprising failure

Amazingly she takes part in the 10,000m race but drops out with eight laps to go with no hope of Olympic glory in 2004

It's a triumphant return for Paula as she fights off Kenyan Susan Chepkemei in a thrilling finish to the NY marathon

Radcliffe consolidates her preparations for the World Championships with a third London Marathon victory

And she finally clinches gold at a major championships when she wins the 2005 world marathon title in Helsinki