Athletics: Radcliffe is fourth again

Paula Radcliffe suffered heartbreak in the 10,000 metres once again as she was squeezed out of the medals and into fourth place.

It was a repeat of last year's Olympic final in Sydney, when she came agonisingly close to winning a medal, before being edged out of a podium finish and into fourth position.

Radcliffe was pipped on the line in a sprint finish by Olympic silver medallist Gete Wami, as the Ethiopians made it a clean sweep of all three medals.

The race was won by Derartu Tulu, the Olympic champion, in 31:48.81, with Berhane Adere finishing second. Radcliffe's time was 31:50.06.

Radcliffe settled herself a third of the way into the pack in the early stages of the race and looked comfortable.

The pace quickened in the second half of the race as Wami moved to the front of the pack. But Radcliffe moved up to third place to keep the Ethiopian in her sights, before easing back.

Tulu - who also won this year's London Marathon - made a burst in the final 400m and held off the challenge of her rivals.

Radcliffe said: "I am disappointed. I thought I could run a lot faster and I knew I had to try something different. I gave it everything I could have done but I couldn't drop the Ethiopians.

"It felt right when I did go and I went hard, but I had the Ethiopians clicking my heels. I knew they would run as a team and when I went they gathered behind me. I still felt with 200m to go that I might hang on for the bronze, but Wami came back at me and when I tried to go again the line came up too quickly."