Torch chaos is ruining Games spirit, says Paula

Radcliffe said she accepted that people might want to demonstrate against the human rights record of China, who will host the Olympics in August.

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But the golden girl of British athletics claimed that attempts to sabotage the torch were unfair on those wanting to compete in the spirit of the Games. Radcliffe described how her pride in being asked to carry the torch for part of the 31-mile relay through the streets of London on Sunday was spoiled by the threat of violence from protesters.

The 34-year-old holder of 10 world-distance records looked terrified when she stepped from a bus to carry the torch on Tower Bridge.

"It was such a shame," she said. "When you get the chance to run carrying the Olympic torch you expect it to be a really great occasion and to have a lot of happy memories from it. It was a good occasion but it was marred a little bit. I was thinking 'Am I going to get a protester jump in front of me and try to grab something off me?'"

Radcliffe, forced to miss this Sunday's Flora London Marathon through injury but who remains one of the favourites to win the women's marathon in Beijing, added: "China is an important issue that needed to have the world's attention drawn to it. And in a way the torch relay has given protesters an opportunity to get more of a profile than they would have done otherwise. In that way it's good.

"But the Olympic torch symbolises much more, way more than just about Beijing. It is about the whole essence of the Olympics. It's about the right to fair play, fair competition, the spirit of the Olympics and what that can overcome. "In that way it is wrong to try and grab the torch. Yes, use the thing as a platform to try and get your message across, but don't try to disrupt the path of the torch because it symbolises the power of the Olympic spirit. It is about the ideal of competing fairly, honestly and cleanly. It is about the right that everybody everywhere around the world has to fair competition." Radcliffe dismissed the argument that China's human rights record makes it inappropriate for the Olympic Games to be held in that country.

She said: "Sport and the Olympics can do far more good by being in China. It can inspire children there to see what an individual person can achieve.

"I actually feel very passionately about that. I believe that every child has the right to take part in sport.

"Sport can give them huge confidence, help them achieve more in life and be more aware of others.

"It is important to take that message to China because that is where they need it at the moment."