ATHLETIC STARS
Britain has a long tradition of excellence in women's athletics and here's a look at 3 of the most outstanding British female athletes of recent years.The first is long-distance runner Paula Radcliffe. This Davenham-born athlete holds 10 world records. Her trademark 'nodding action' running style makes her immediately recognisable to her British fans.
Her race technique is built on setting a roaring pace from the starting line. This allows her to pull far into the lead and leave here opponents in the dust.
Among here many achievement were Golds for the 10000 metres in the European Championships in Munich in 2002 and in the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki.
Next is Sally Gunnell who hails from Essex. Here forte is the 400 metre hurdles for which she won an Olympic Gold in Barcelona in 1992. She set the world record for the same event the following year when she won the Gold at the World Championships. Her major claim to fame is being the only woman to have held the European, World, Commonwealth and Olympic 400 metre hurdles titles at the same time.
Finally, we'll look at the Heptathlete Denise Lewis. The heptathlon is a track and field athletics combined events contest made up of seven events - the 100 metre hurdles, the high jump, shot putting, the 200 metres, the long jump, the javelin throw and the 800 metres.
For the heptathlon, Denise Lewis won gold at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 together with Commonwealth golds in 1994 and 1998.