Radcliffe to join up with Britain's Olympic team

(GETTY IMAGES)

Marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe will join up with the British Olympic team this weekend as she seeks to recover from an injury in time to compete at the Beijing Games.

The 34-year-old Radcliffe, who has been training in an attempt to overcome a stress fracture in her thigh, will travel to the British camp in Macau on Sunday.

"I'm glad Paula's flying out on Sunday," UK Athletics performance director Dave Collins said. "I'm sure she will have been maintaining her professionalism in training."

The women's marathon in Beijing takes place on 17 August.

Radcliffe withdrew from this year's London Marathon because of a toe injury before being diagnosed with the femur problem in May while having an MRI scan on her hip.

She was the favorite for the gold medal in the marathon at the 2004 Athens Games but dropped out about a mile from the end, and also dropped out of the 10,000 meters a few days later with eight laps remaining.

Radcliffe had her training schedule interrupted by the toe injury in September 2007 when she finished second in a half marathon — her first race in 20 months after having her first child.

She went on to win the New York City Marathon in November — which served as her Olympic qualifying time — but the toe injury flared again, forcing her to miss the London Marathon, where she set her world record time of 2 hours, 15 minutes, 25 seconds in 2003.