Paula Radcliffe is to receive $500,000 (£272,000) to run the New York City Marathon on November 7 as she tries to put the bitter disappointment of the Olympics behind her.
Officials hastily put together a special package with the sponsor, the Dutch financial company ING, after the world record holder contacted them last week and indicated she would like to compete.
It will be her first race since Athens, where she dropped out of the marathon and then five days later the 10,000 metres because of factors ranging from a stomach complaint to a quad injury.
Radcliffe, 30, and her husband, Gary Lough, were already due to attend the race as guests of the New York Road Runners Club, the organisers, but after a training run at her base in Flagstaff, Arizona, last week she decided she would like to do more than just watch.
"I was really just taking it day by day, training when my body wanted it," she said. "Then things started to come together. I came back from a run one day and said to Gary, 'I'd really like to run the race.'
"Gary said he thought I could do it and was enthusiastic about it. I shocked my coach Alex Stanton at first but he knew I could do it from the training I had been doing."
Radcliffe, who has spent the past 4 weeks training in Arizona, is confident she is fully recovered from the problems that affected her in Athens. "I wouldn't be asking to put myself in this situation if I wasn't prepared to do myself justice," she said. "Athens is something I've put behind me."
