• London Olympics 2012

Radcliffe set for surgery despite comeback

ESPN staff
September 26, 2011
Paula Radcliffe requires surgery on a bone spur © Getty Images
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Paula Radcliffe will undergo surgery to remove a bone spur from her left ankle this week, before she gets her preparations for London 2012 fully underway.

Radcliffe reached the qualifying standard for next year's Olympic Games with her run at the weekend's Berlin Marathon - her first race back since the birth of her second child last September.

While the performance was encouraging as she looks towards next summer, she has now revealed that she will have to undergo surgery to solve what could otherwise become a painful problem.

"It's a bone, but it's not attached," Radcliffe said. "You can see it. There's a big lump here. When I'm running it gets in the ligaments and it causes inflammation. It doesn't really hurt while I'm running, it bothers me afterwards.

"It's grown a lot this year, but they've scanned it and it's not attached. If it's attached they have to chip away at the bone."

Radcliffe will get the operation sorted this week, which means she should suffer little or no setback to her training.

"I'm in for scans on Wednesday, then they're going to operate on Friday," she said. "It's so I don't really have to take much time out because I normally have three weeks' rest after [a marathon] anyway.

"It's just taking it out, then two weeks recovery, then getting back into training."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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