As she prepares to race in Berlin on Sunday in what will be her first marathon in two years, the 37-year-old mother of two finds herself in a similar position, athletically that is, to Bekele - a world record holder making a first proper return to action after a period of time when even the finest of talents might have dulled.

There was, of course, the 10km race she ran in London four months ago, which was, in her own words, "a bit of a disaster." But that was a relatively unimportant blip. Berlin, despite being the kindest of venues for marathon runners - who have set six world records on its streets in the past dozen years - will be the real test, not just of her current ability, but her realistic ambitions for London 2012.

Over the years, Radcliffe has had no greater champion than Dave Bedford, who did his bit to bring the world 10,000m record down towards Bekele territory in running 27:30.80 in 1973, and who, as international race director of the London Marathon, has revelled in her years of distinction over that course.


So when Bedford (pictured), present as a guest at this year's London Diamond League meeting on the Crystal Palace track where he set his record, made a big point of saying in his stadium interview that he didn't think Radcliffe was a serious contender to win the London 2012 marathon, it was startling, if not shocking.

Bedford, being Bedford, would have said that for the good reason that it was what he thought was the truth. But he would also have been mindful of the fact that it would help to reduce the ludicrous amount of expectation that nations begin to cultivate as Olympic year approaches - and in particular, home nations.

It would be nice to think that Radcliffe is in sufficiently good shape in Berlin to earn a clear place for next year's Olympics. After all she has done for the marathon, particularly in the English capital, it would be sad indeed were she not to be a part of the London 2012 marathon. Realistically, that should be her target. But you don't get to run 2:15 marathons by following realistic targets...

Bekele will also be looking towards London 2012 now with an optimism that has escaped him for the last couple of years, since a serious calf injury plunged him into athletics obscurity.


Having made his return at last month's IAAF World Championships in Daegu, courtesy of a wild card as the defending 10,000m champion, he dropped out shortly before the halfway point and returned to Ethiopia to work on his fitness.

His final flourish in Brussels was only half-expected - although as Galen Rupp, the American who set an area record of 26:48.00 in finishing third behind him, remarked, Bekele would hardly have turned up if he didn't think he was in shape. A second failure after Daegu would have done his reputation no good at all.

According to Bekele's manager Jos Hermens, the world record holder managed just four serious track sessions between Daegu and Brussels. It was certainly a phenomenal final flourish to the season.

"It's definitely amazing to think of the way he was a couple of weeks ago in Daegu and how he was here," Rupp told me after getting involved in some serious carbo-loading at the athletes' hotel following his race. "But then again, if anyone is going to be able to do something like that, it's Bekele.

"Next year is going to be very interesting as far as he and Mo are concerned. But I think it's good for the sport."

For Alberto Salazar, the three-times winner of the New York marathon in the 80s who has coached Rupp and Mo Farah with such success at their Portland, Oregon base this year, the re-emergence of Bekele has been unexpectedly swift, but is not unexpected.


Having seen Farah win silver in the 10,000m and then gold in the 5,000 in Daegu, Salazar obviously believes Olympic year will be rich in possibilities. But now it will also be rich in rivalry.

"Bekele is the greatest distance runner in the world ever," Salazar told me after Rupp's Brussels race. "But I don't think anyone could have foreseen that he could come back in two weeks and do that.

"Of course we don't know exactly what his training was before Daegu and what happened since then. It's just remarkable that he can turn around in that kind of time and be at his best.

"If he even gets close to where he has been before he is, if not the best distance runner he's one of the top two still, so you do have to say that he is one of the major favourites next year, so definitely we will have to look at that.

"But we've already thought about this before and we have certain plans. Even if he gets as dominant as he was before, we will still feel confident that Mo has a very good chance of winning. And why not?

"That old thinking – well, if he gets back into great shape, Mo's going to end up with a silver medal. Absolutely not. We're expecting him to be in his best shape ever, and that we are going to have to train Mo accordingly so that he can beat Bekele when he's at his best.

"Now other people might say that's impossible. But you know what? Nothing's impossible. Who's to say that Mo is not going to get even better?

"There's a lot of things we haven't yet done with him. We are still working on his biomechanics. We changed his stride length at the finish between the World 10,000 and 5,000 finals. We did that in four days, so what can happen if we really work on it during the whole winter?"

What gives Salazar particular confidence is the way Farah takes on information so swiftly and avidly. After he had seen his 10,000m gold turn silver in the last agonising yards as the relatively unknown Ethiopian, Ibraham Jeilan, came past him, Farah sat down with his coach and discussed how he could make the 5,000m come true.

According to Salazar they spoke about two big things. Having gone for broke with just over a lap remaining, Farah was left with nothing in reserve by the last few steps. They talked about keep a little back in such circumstances.

"If you get a 15-metres lead, and then the other guy cuts it to eight metres, he's like a shark smelling blood," Salazar said. "But if you take an eight metres lead, and then make it 15, the other guy is going to think 'This is over.'"

The other thing they talked about was cadence – in Farah's case, not overstriding in his anxiety over the final stages. Farah's final sprint held true as he came under extreme, indeed, anguished pressure from the former world champion Bernard Lagat of the United States.

"Mo said afterwards that as he went to the line he was thinking about what we had said, and trying to shorten his stride," Salazar said. "He made the changes he needed in the space of four days. Mo is such a fast learner."

Now Salazar is looking forward to making the fast learner an even faster runner.

"If Mo can close in 52.8, now, can we close in 51? You know, that's the 5k time split that we've seen from Mo in major championships. With Bekele it's somewhere near 52.2. Now Mo ran 52.8. That's not far off. If Bekele can approach what he did before – well, we'll see. But even if he does, can Mo improve more? Absolutely. So, we are not at all fearing..."

If both can stay the course to London 2012 it could be an immense race to rival even that between Paul Tergat and Bekele's compatriot and predecessor as world record holder, Haile Gebrselassie.

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, has covered the last five Summer and four Winter Olympics for The Independent. Previously he has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, the Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian. He is now chief feature writer for insidethegames. Rowbottom's Twitter feed can be accessed here.