Other Sports

Magical Memories of Sonia O Sullivan

November 27th, 2012
by Weeshie Fogarty

 The mere mention of the name itself invokes a multitude of magical memories.  We watched her on the box, enthralled, as she plundered gold, silver and bronze medals in the premier championship races around the world. This slip of a girl from the county of Cork took on and defeated the best the world could offer as she blazed a trail of glory in the great athletic stadiums of Europe and beyond, Athens, Sydney, Oslo, Gothenburg, Stuttgart, Helsinki, Budapest, Munich, Turin Paris Dublin and many more.  It was a golden era for Irish athletics and Sonia was the queen of them all. We probably will never see her likes again.

This amazing Cobh born lady must be regarded as the greatest athlete this country has ever produced. Just a brief examination of her career in middle distance running spanning the 1990s and culminating with an Olympic silver medal in the 5,000m in Sydney bears this out.  Her trophy cabinet amassed a multitude of titles including the World Athletics Championship (1995), the European Championship (1994 and double gold in 1998), (double silver in 1992), the World Cross Country Championships in Marrakesh, double gold in 1998 and the World Championships (gold in 1997).  And not to be overlooked a host of magnificent Grand Prix wins as she broke, equaled and smashed Irish, European and Irish records leaving world class fields trailing in her wake.

As an avid follower of athletics in this county, I like thousands of others had followed Sonia's career as she thrilled households up and down the country for the best part of a decade captivating and inspiring a nation. Little did I think that one day I would sit down and have the privilege of interviewing her for Radio Kerry in what was I must admit was a slightly daunting but fascinating experience?

And so it was last Saturday week as the full time whistle sounded in a superb Mid Kerry final between Milltown/Castlemain and Laune Rangers which finished in a draw that I faced the car back West and as the darkness descended arrived at Inch strand. The venue would prove to be the most unlikely of places to conduct a ninety minute interview with this living legend of world sport. In my opinion walking Inch Beach from end to end as crimson shades creep into the western sky then watch the sun set and let the day melt into night is one of the great experiences rarely spoken about in this county. And it was here that Sonia chooses to relax and unwind following her recent hectic schedule as Chef de Mission to the Irish Olympic team in London. Her family now shares their time between Melbourne, London and of course Cobh.  And nestling there overlooking the beach is Sammy's Café where Mahmood the exemplary owner of this superb establishment was only too willing to facilitate us with a little room upstairs which couples as his office and it was from here I was then transported all around the world as Sonia re-lived all the great athletic events of her magical career. Impossible I had discovered in the previous week as I familiarized myself with her career to cover everything and indeed it would take a full week of interviews to capture all one wished. 

It was 1993 and the World Championships had been held in Stuttgart and I had always been fascinated by the success of the Chinese ladies in the 3000m. They had come first, second and third. Sonia was 4th. I put this one race to her, and she laughed and said, "Oh the big Chinese take-away, they came saw, conquered and disappeared". So I then asked her if she believed they were on some enhancing performing drugs "I believed that they trained very hard", she replied, "running a marathon a day and doing all their tough sessions. I thought, well I haven't  trained like that so how can I be as good as them? Anyway, after the World Championships the Chinese went home and I was able to resume winning on the European circuit. Then I was at a mile road race in Edinburgh and somebody came up and said that Wang Junxia had run 8.06 for the 3k. I didn't believe them. Then I thought that I had to train harder so I started training really hard. It was the first year that I started running 100 mile weeks. I was training three times a day. Were they on drugs? I don't know".

Our interview ranged far and wide. Courteous, pleasant, relaxed, so willing to talk, no airs or graces, no sign of an ego so evident in many sports stars of to day, she was the dream interviewee. Her four Olympic Games, the shocking disappointment of Atlanta and the massive effect it left when she failed to finish in the final of the 5000m and then in the 1500m still badly effected by a stomach upset she faded away and failed to finish. She speaks openly and honestly how she had been unwell for weeks in the run up to those games but refused to confide in even one person. But the Sonia story is really all about success and her amazing single mindness, total focus and sheer determination to be the best in the world comes shinning through more than any other aspect of out interview.

Growing up in Cobh, running from one telegraph pole to another as she just wanted to run and run. Her family life is openly discussed, working in the pubs of Cobh and the big Killarney "Human Race" which gave her a ticket to college in America. Hers must be one of the greatest Irish athletic success stories ever told and thanks to great friends Ger Hartmann and Ger Keane of the Hartmann Sports Injury Clinic in Limerick I had achieved a burning ambition to meet Sonia and capture in a very small way the remarkable story of her magnificent athletic career. Another beautiful obsession fulfilled.

Fogra: You can now hear Sonia tell her story with commentary of her big wins in a special two hour Terrace Talk program, Monday December 10th 6-8pm on Radio Kerry. Surely one not to be missed.


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