Paula's tears over marathon failure

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Romanian Constantina Tomescu took the gold in 2:26.44, with Kenyan Catherine Ndereba claiming silver edging China's Zhou Chunxiu into bronze after a battle down the home straight in the Bird's Nest stadium.

Radcliffe briefly stopped two hours and 14 minutes into the race clearly struggling with the injured thigh that had threatened to prevent her competing - but then gamely continued, finishing in 2:32.38.

Briton Mara Yamauchi was sixth in 2:27.29, with Liz Yelling 26th in 2:33.12.

The gallant Radcliffe admitted that "my legs had gone" after completing the race - and insisted she hoped to be back for another crack at Olympic glory.

She told BBC One: "I was trying to achieve the impossible I guess. The amount of running I've done coming in wasn't enough.

"Cardiovascularly I felt comfortable but my legs had gone. My calf went first, then it went up the entire leg and it felt like I was running on one leg. But I didn't do all that work for nothing. It's just really frustrating.

"I was going to the finish line no matter what. I did all the hard work and it feels frustrating because cardiovascularly I don't feel like I've run. I tried to do the right things in the race, tried to go after Constantina but my legs weren't there."

The 34-year-old Radcliffe admitted the performance of winner Tomescu, who at 38 produced a fine run, has inspired her to keep going until the London Olympics in four years time.

"It's not the end," she added. "I knew I was pushing it coming in with three-and-a-half weeks of running. You can't take shortcuts in the marathon and I guess I learned that today. Fingers crossed for 2012. Look at Constantina - maybe I can do that in 2012 if my body holds up."