Paula Radcliffe stress fracture injury

Paula Radcliffe is in a race against time to recover from a stress fracture of her left femur to compete at the Beijing Olympics

4 years ago in Athens Paula Radcliffe broke down in tears when it became apparent she wouldn't be able to finish the marathon and now she faces a challenge to even start the race in Beijing.

Radcliffe is suffering with a stress fracture of her left femur which has already prevented her from training for the past 10 weeks in the run-up to the Olympic Games.

Stress fracture of the left femur

Stress fractures are complete or partial fractures of the bone which tells you why Paula Radcliffe is struggling to be fully fit for the Olympics.

The femur is the bone in the leg that extends from the hip to the knee and it isn't uncommon for long distance runners like Paula Radcliffe to injure this bone.