Radcliffe declares herself fit for Olympic marathon

But the reigning champion, Japan's Mizuki Noguchi, seems less likely to make next Sunday's race after cutting short her altitude training in the Swiss Alps and undergoing scans for muscle soreness.

Ready to go: Paula Radcliffe has announced herself fit for a crack at the marathon gold she craves so much.

With both Radcliffe and Noguchi struggling for fitness, next weekend's race will be wide open but the British world recordholder and 2005 world champion does look like making the start after a week of clear training at the British camp in Macau, near Hong Kong.

Radcliffe fractured a femur at the end of May and her preparations were further interrupted when she was being bitten by a poisonous spider while training in the French Pyrenees last month.

But, apart from a typhoon disrupting outdoor training last week, Radcliffe has run regularly on roads and grass trails around the local golf course here and is scheduled to line up in Tiananmen Square.

Noguchi's troubles would ordinarily increase Radcliffe's chances of gold but the 34-year-old Briton has lost months of training time. It means neither she nor Noguchi seem likely to be challenging for medals.

Radcliffe, who is in Macau with her husband, Gary Lough, was joined by her parents, Peter and Pat, on Thursday as well as her two-year-old daughter, Isla, and is said to be in good spirits.

Marathon reserve Hayley Haining declined to fly out as a back-up last week, adding to the growing confidence that Radcliffe will start.

The Olympic title is the only one she lacks, having famously pulled out in Athens four years ago after injury and illness left her depleted of energy.

Radcliffe insisted that the searing heat of Greece did not affect her but she will have to contend with even worse humidity and temperatures in Beijing.

Pollution levels in the Chinese capital on Friday reached almost four times the World Health Organisation's recommended limits.