Other Sports

The Highs and Lows of Gillian O'Sullivan's Career

July 17th, 2007
by Weeshie Fogarty

Kerry has produced some legendary Olympians such as John Pious Boland, Edmond Barrett, Eamon Fitzgerald, Tom O'Riordan and Paul Griffin. Gillian O'Sullivan whose career we traced here last week stands unique among any Kerry sports man or women. Gillian is our very first lady Olympian, world championship medal winner and holder of a host of track records. This week the golden girl of Irish athletics looks back and speaks candidly of that agonising period of her life when injury struck and brought to a premature end a career, which appeared would have seen her reign supreme for a long period in the hugely competitive world of race walking.

She has vivid memories when that niggling pain first began. "Looking back now the injury began as far back as 2001. My left side always seemed to be a little bit weaker than my right and around that time including 2002 I had to do more work with that weaker side, more physio and treatment. I did not take that much notice at the time; you would always have some weak spot or some niggling injury. Then 2003 was very successful and it didn't seem to play up. I took a few weeks off in September of '03 and when I came back in January/February of 2004 and began training there was some thing definitely happening. The left hamstring was constantly tight. I would have some physio done and it would last a while. Now I was training very hard at this stage, I was into Olympic year. I did a European Cup competition at the end of May '04 and I knew then that I was not right at that stage and to be honest I did not realise how bad it was and I just kept going. Then we went to France to do altitude training and at that stage my technique had completely broken down and it was all stemming from the same problem."

The decision to withdraw from participation in the 2004 Olympic game must have been absolutely heart rendering for Gillian. She spoke frankly about it. "The main thing was that my technique had broken down at this stage and when you are racing there is the added pressure and fear of the judges. I knew I wasn't walking as well as I should be, I knew there was something wrong. We were working constantly on my technique and it was absolutely wearing, I was in France with my coach Michael Lane and there were other athletes there as well and my left knee just wasn't locking out properly. That was basically it Weeshie, it was like that it was kind of soft all the time and it was far from correct."

"Every day we were working on it and it was so wearing. I was under tremendous pressure at that stage," says Lane. "This was July and the Olympics were in August so I put it to Gillian that there was still some hope that she might compete even at this late stage."

"I came home from that training camp and I did our own national championships and I was disqualified and rightly so because I was not walking properly and I have no disagreement with that," says Gillian. "Everything was going wrong and nothing was coming together. We then had a training camp organized north of Athens. I went there and I had my own physio with me and my coach and the second day I hurt my right hamstring and remember it was my left side that was giving me all the trouble. We then spend the next few days trying to get this new problem right and at that stage things were not coming together. I could be on the table having treatment two hours in the morning, two hours after lunch and I could be there two hours in the evening."

It must have been very evident to all her team that thing swere looking very bleak and Gillian agreed. "You can't substitute for time and time was literally running out. The race was scheduled I think around the 23rd and we were going to go into the Olympic village, I had a decision to make and when a person has to make a decision like this you know in your heart what is right. I knew it was going to be terrible. What was I faced with. I was faced with maybe been disqualified." Was this the easy option at this late stage? "No I don't think I took the easy option because I knew at the end of the day that I wasn't right. I also knew that I wouldn't do myself justice because I was better than what I was at that time. The whole timing was unfortunate. If it had been 2003 I would have been alright, but that's the way things go. It was very difficult and what made it worse was trying to find out what was really wrong and that took more time. There were no words to ease the pain and people found it awkward to discuss it with me. It took a long time to be able to even talk about it. Of course I was shattered."

Gillian has a vast store of memories from her brilliant career, so which one stands out above all others. "Paris and the world silver medal has to be the one." And did she enjoy the race? "Not really. It was not until the last sixty meters or so that I could relax a little and enjoy the moment. You are under tremendous mental and physical pressure and I had to keep concentrating so hard."

So was she at the peak of her form for that particular world championship? "Definitely, I was just outside my personal best for the distance and to do that in a championship was special. I was even fitter that day than what I achieved and I probably could have gone even faster, but championship strategy is different However going back to where it all started in the community games and the medal I won in Mosney, I cherish that. I was just gone thirteen and I felt that I had just won the Olympics. That was so important to me and I still value it so much. To go from my own club Spa/Muckross and mix it with the rest of the country was great."

As one would expect her retirement must have left a huge void in Gillian's life realising that she trained six days a week all year around twice a day. Including walking training and gym work she would train around five hours a day if not more. She loved the life of a professional athlete and would love to be still deeply involved in the arduous training schedule. "I miss the training an awful lot at the moment and until I find something at which I can challenge myself I will find it difficult to come to terms with the whole thing. You are addicted to it to be honest and there is a great sense of achievement when you have reached your objective."

Gillian was the pin up girl of Irish athletics and her stunning good looks and beaming smile endeared her to the Irish public. So did she enjoy the massive publicity she attracted and the promotional work attached to her world renowned success? "Not really I didn't like that side of it. For a female athlete it much more difficult than for a male athlete. There are far fewer female world class athletes than male and it's easier for them in my opinion." Most sports people would be wary of the media and Gillian was no exception as she explained. "You would have to be very careful. Some times you said something they might interpret it completely differently. People would read that and believe you said it." She also explained that athletics were a minority sport in Ireland and as regards publicity it could not really compete with the GAA and others.

Did her career entail a religious aspect? "Yes, I would always say a few prayers before a race and training, not that I expected to win all I entered but that I would compete well and handle anything that came my way during competition." Gillian comes from a very close knit family. So how important was this to her during her glittering career? "Through out my career I have had tremendous support and at the end of the day your family are everything and my friends are fantastic as well. Having such a high profile was difficult at times and I would be in contact with my parent nearly every day. When big decisions were to be made I would always consult them first."

Gillian's parents Pat and Alice together with her brothers Thomas, Michael and Paul and sister Maria were always there for her. And of course Gillian will for ever more be remembered as Kerry's first lady Olympian. She has written herself indelibly into the history of Kerry and Ireland's sporting pages. This of course is another of her cherished memories. "It was really great to participate in the Olympics and all my family was there on the day in Sydney and that was just great. To be able to share that with everybody was so exciting. The whole build up was magical and then to do well and finish 10th was special." She was reluctant to speculate as to what she could have achieved in the Olympics if injury had not intervened. However, she did agree with me that in her heart she knew that she was well capable of winning a medal of some colour.

Being a professional athlete has for her been a dream come true, it has given her great opportunities. It has helped her to see wonderful places. "It's a great life style and you're doing something that you love. Among the places I got to visit included Sydney, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Russia, Canada, and South Africa."

She holds five Irish records and the 5k world record time at 20.02, which should stand for years. We have only barely touched the amazing career of Gillian O'Sullivan over the past two weeks. Surely the book chronicling her great voyage from the Townland of Minish to the summit of world athletics will come to fruition in the near future. If any Kerry sports person deserves to have their achievements recorded for posterity it is Gillian. The old adage, "We will never see her likes again" was never more appropriate than in this instance. Gillian thanks for the memories.



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