WOMEN'S MARATHON: We should have known there could only ever have been one kind of Greek chorus for Paula Radcliffe. The most enchanted night that distance running has ever known called for her from the wonderful Panathinaiko Stadium, but the day star of English athletics was left crouched and crying somewhere on an Athenian roadside.

The women's marathon returned to the marble-tipped gift from the ancients just as the evening began to cool and the sky around Athens turned a deep, electric purple. It was here that Radcliffe was supposed to be ordained by the gods as the peerless female exponent of the legendary race.

She kept faith with the Greek fairytale in that she collapsed, but unlike the fabled Athenian messenger it was not at the finish line. Radcliffe never even got to set her eyes on the glittering horseshoe stadium, where Union Jacks were draped over the smooth marble benches and a fleet of British television cameras lay waiting to record what would have been the stand-alone image of these Games.

Sport has dispensed more than its fair share of cruel blows to the stubborn Cheshire girl, as if irritated by her determination to come back with greater fortitude from the lonely and pitiful places that running has left her. Nobody deserved this, however. Fading after the climbing and dipping course reached the outskirts of suburbia, she stopped running precisely at the 36km mark, ran a few more steps and then thought better of it, walking off the course in terrible distress. In the pale-stone stadium a carnival atmosphere died out of respect as much as disappointment as Radcliffe retreated to be alone on a patch of grass beside the roadside.

Ahead of her ran names that could not live with her over the last two years - Mizuki Noguchi of Japan, Catherine Ndereba of Kenya and Deena Castor from the United States. In truth, the first two runners had already left Radcliffe to fight for the bronze medal in the perfumed Athenian heat and it was after the American girl moved beyond her faltering pace that Radcliffe must have realised she was yet again fated for fourth place.

Four years ago in Sydney, she ran 27 laps of her 10,000 metre final in first place only to be eclipsed from the medal reckoning over 800-merciless metres. The prospect of repeating that experience was something not even she could tolerate. The heartless nature of her elimination affirmed the sense of ill-ease that had followed her preparation for these Olympics.

A strange collision with a cyclist on the deserted roads of Alberquerque last year seemed to pre-empt a less than perfect preparation for this race of races. Although Athens was full of whispers about a leg injury affecting Radcliffe's ability to race at all, she looked comfortable for the first 25km, the blond bob lolling in the sunset and her red ribbon of purity fluttering through the heavy air.

In the end, though, it could have been the sheer fatigue of a breathless Greek August evening that got the better of her. Altitude training takes an athlete so far, but with six miles left to go, it came down to a British girl running through a wall of heat against athletes from the flatlands of Kenya and the diminutive Oriental girl Noguchi, who ran in perfect serenity in the high night temperatures.

When the slender frame of the Japanese runner finally graced the grand Panathinaiko entrance, it should be noted British flags waved in unison with those of the Rising Sun. But it was hardly the conclusion English visitors could have imagined back when Radcliffe stormed the athletics world with her world-record time of 2:15.25 in London two years ago.

But there is no comparison with the demands of a mild spring afternoon in Westminster and this heavenly but unforgiving Olympic evening at the spiritual home of the marathon.

When Naguchi ran her crowning lap on the famous track where Spiros the Greek ran for gold back in 1896, it was sweltering but, nonetheless, an evening of goosebumps. Naguichi broke the tape an easy 12 seconds ahead of Nderebe. They wrapped her in a gold foil wrap and the Japanese girl shed tears of joy and bowed to the innumerable cameras beaming back the images to the great cities of the East.

It is understandable, but still a lastingly sad fact, Radcliffe will never hear the ovation that would surely have waited her last night, regardless of what position she finished in as she crossed the line.

For the record, the fourth-place finisher was Ekfenseh Alemu of Ethiopia in a time of 2:28.15.

Radcliffe was taken to the Panathinaiko Stadium in an ambulance and then to the athletes' holding room. She was with her husband and coach Gary Lough, her parents and medical staff, who gave her a full check-up as a precaution. She was then led out of the arena, looking very distressed, by her husband.