Paula Radcliffe will know in 48 hours whether her Olympic dream is over. Britain's marathon world record-holder is having a scan on her left hip - which has developed a muscle problem - on Wednesday. She has not ruled out being on the start line in Beijing in less than three months but she is using crutches after this latest setback, following the toe injury that forced her out of the London Marathon, and her husband, Gary Lough, said she has missed "quite a bit of training". An initial scan did not show up the injury.

"The frustrating thing is that it has been mishandled, so there has been time wasted," said Lough. "She would not be fighting as hard as she is if the Olympics were not that important. We want to get back to normal, she is definitely looking forward to the Olympics. There is no treatment she can have. Considering what she has to face, she is not too bad but this is something we did not need at this time. But it is what it is and we have to deal with it."