Radcliffe selected for her fifth Olympics

Paula Radcliffe will become only the third British track and field athlete to be selected for five Olympics after her place in Team GB for London 2012 was confirmed yesterday.

Radcliffe, 37, has been selected for the marathon along with Scott Overall and Mara Yamauchi. The trio are the first to be selected from the sport of athletics – 11 sailors and five boxers have also been named.

Radcliffe said: “To represent your country at a home Olympics is something special and I’m over the moon to be selected for Team GB. I was pleased to get the qualifying time in Berlin earlier this year and my sole focus is getting in the right shape for London. I’m just fully concentrating on being fully prepared for next year.”

Radcliffe joins javelin thrower Tessa Sanderson and race walker Chris Maddocks as the third British athletics competitor to be selected for five Olympics.

Overall, 28, from London, is originally a 5,000m runner and also ran the qualifying time in Berlin in September when he finished fifth. He said: “The marathon course is really spectator friendly so I can imagine the home crowd will be absolutely fantastic and the atmosphere will be amazing.”

Yamauchi, 38, who made the qualifying mark at the Yokohama Marathon last month, finished sixth at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and is the second-fastest British woman in the marathon this year behind Radcliffe.