Paula has nothing to prove

Steve Cram was the first person to interview Paula Radcliffe after her dramatic withdrawal from the Olympic marathon on Sunday.

Millions of television viewers heard her tearfully say she was baffled by her failure.

Now five days after the marathon, Radcliffe has confirmed she will line up for the 10,000m on Friday evening.

Here, Cram - the former 1500m world champion - gives his reaction to the news.

By Steve Cram BBC Sport in Athens

Paula Radcliffe's decision to run the 10,000m in Athens has got nothing to do with what happened to her in the marathon.

It is not about putting something right and she has got nothing to prove to anybody.

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The pressure from other people for her to run in the 10,000m has never been an issue.

People have been talking a lot of rubbish as to why she should run but the decision was always going to be Paula's - what the rest of us thought was irrelevant.

And 25 laps is a long way to go just to prove a point.

The only reason she is competing is because she genuinely thinks she can get something out of the race.

The question she had to ask herself was would she be able to do herself justice?

As an athlete when you cannot perform to the level at which you would like to - as happened to Paula when she could not finish the marathon - if you have the opportunity to have another go then you want to take it.

What has she got to lose? Absolutely nothing.

I have spoken to her, although I'm not saying what she said, but I can tell you she is feeling fine.

Before making her decision to run, Paula will have had to figure out if she was physically feeling OK.

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You have to remember long distance athletes do lots of hard sessions back-to-back.

And the fact that she did not complete the race on Sunday might just help her.

Those last few kilometres would have taken another 5-10% out of her.

There is less pressure on Paula now than there has ever been before and that will be in her favour

Her legs have had time to recover, obviously she won't be completely fresh or in top shape but she is very competitive.

Paula won't know until she is out there on the line what mental shape she is really in.

But she is a lot more positive and looking forward to racing.

What happened to her at these Olympics is probably the worst situation she has been in.

It will be a real test for her mentally but I'm sure she will come through it. Athletes are used to having bad races and you just move on.

Paula is the fastest in the world over 10,000m and that will give her every confidence going into the race.

Her opponents will have woken up to the news that she is going to run with some trepidation.

I don't think people are expecting too much from Paula now.

So there is less pressure on her tonight than there has ever been before when she has put her foot on the track - and that is something that will be in her favour.