Athletics: Richard Williams: The Nation's Reaction to Paula's Win

The man behind the record-shop counter shook his head and explained that he simply could not bring himself to watch. "Too much emotion," he said, speaking on behalf of those unable to bear the thought of witnessing another of Paula Radcliffe's failures. Most of the rest of Armchair Britain disagreed, proving that BBC1's schedulers were correct when they threw out their planned Sunday afternoon programme in order to devote several hours to Radcliffe's astonishing victory in the New York marathon, with its heart-stopping conclusion.

Astonishing, of course, because with half a mile to go it appeared to be shaping up as one of Radcliffe's classic defeats, in which her effortful front-running avails her nothing as a trio of smaller Africans slip past in the final stages and accelerate away to the podium. It happened in Edmonton, it happened in Sydney, and it happened most spectacularly in Athens 11 weeks ago, although on that occasion it was a Japanese woman, not an Ethiopian or a Kenyan, who took the prize on which Radcliffe had set her heart.

Radcliffe had beaten Susan Chepkemei of Kenya in both of her record-breaking runs in London in 2002 and 2003, but as the two runners passed through the dappled shadows of Central Park on Sunday there was no guarantee at all that she would be able to summon up a finish powerful enough to burn off the African runner's challenge. When she did, with the finish line almost in sight, Armchair Britain rose to salute the tall, pale, slender figure whose own emotions were hidden behind her wraparound shades but whose spittle-flecked mouth, gasping for air, indicated the exertions of an athlete at the very limit of her performance.

Thank goodness she did it. Not just for herself, her husband, her parents and her coaches, as close-knit a team as any in sport. Not just for her sponsors, to whom a victory in the United States means a vast new territory open for Paula business. Not just for the publishers of her autobiography, in the shops this coming weekend, who stuck with their original print order of 100,000 copies after the Athens debacle and can now multiply that by a factor of two or three as the Christmas-present season gets under way. But for sport itself, and for the idea that total disaster does not always mean the end of all hope.

Over the next few weeks, readers of My Story So Far will become familiar with the location of the vastus medialis muscle in the lower leg and the conditions known as tenosynovitis, an inflammation of the sheath surrounding a muscle, and crepitus, a collateral inconvenience caused when fluid builds up within the sheath. In the fortnight before the Athens marathon, Radcliffe was treated in secret for these problems and given a cortisone injection to disperse a haematoma - an accumulation of congealed blood - that had built up between the muscle and the femur.

Yet though the symptoms were reduced, the problem was merely displaced. As the race approached, anti-inflammatory drugs affected her digestion. Food passed straight through her, she says, providing no build-up of nutrition. When she arrived on the start line, she was already running on fumes.

In sum, she should never have been there. Only the outside world's expectations delivered her to the start line. Not that she needed persuading, given her acceptance of the pressure and rewards of international sport. And for all the medical evidence, it is still possible to believe that she stopped at the 36km marker mainly through sheer disappointment at the realisation that there would be no medal at the end of the race. Over-trained, over- sponsored, over-motivated and over-protected, she over-reacted to the prospect of failure.

On Sunday she swept the broken pieces away and acquired a new ornament for the mantelpiece.

If Radcliffe were not a resilient woman, she would never have been able to overcome the physical problems that held her back at various times in her career, including congenital anaemia.

Distance running is no pursuit for the thin-blooded. But to rise, in a single bound, from the depths to which Radcliffe plummeted less than three months ago represents an achievement that does not need the validation of spurious comparisons with any of history's most notable comebacks.

"It wasn't about replying to critics or about redemption," her husband said afterwards. "It was just about Paula enjoying herself, running for fun and giving people a bit of a show."

You can believe that if you want to, but to me it rings as false as Radcliffe's own pre-race claim that she had "nothing to prove". She had everything to prove, to herself and to the world, and fun had nothing to do with it. The show was a by-product, and a wonderful one.