A LITTLE over 20 minutes after Constantina Tomescu won the Olympic Women’s Marathon, Pauline Curley jogged into Beijing’s National Stadium to begin her own victory lap.

Paula Radcliffe insisted she would have walked all the way to the marathon finish line if necessary after her quest for an elusive Olympic medal ended once more in pain and tears.

BRITAIN’S world record holder Paula Radcliffe banished memories of her Athens Olympics nightmare and ended years of near misses when she won the women’s marathon at the World Athletics Championships yesterday.

Highly-fancied Margaret Okayo turned what at one stage appeared to be certain defeat into an easy victory in this morning’s Flora London Marathon.