Former world and Olympic champion Gabriela Szabo has confirmed her retirement.

THE tall, thin frame that had belied the strength within for so many years looked tired and pained in Athens last night.

SONIA O’SULLIVAN will be back in old, familiar surroundings when she lines up for the final of the women’s 5,000m at the Olympic Stadium in Athens tonight.

THE Weltklasse in Zurich has always been a favourite meet for Ireland's Sonia O'Sullivan, but it takes on added significance tonight as she looks for a performance to boost her confidence for the Olympic Games.

ATHLETICS Ireland have named a team of nine for the world indoor championships in Budapest, but could add two more to the squad over the coming days.

Gabriela Szabo, Olympic 5,000m champion and nemesis of Sonia O'Sullivan, admits she could be reaching the end of her career following a disappointing performance in the women's’ 5,000m final at the World Athletics Championships in Paris.

SONIA O’SULLIVAN is prepared to run faster than ever in her quest for a medal at the world championships in Paris today.

Ireland's former 5000m world champion Sonia O'Sullivan comfortably qualified for Saturday's final in a season's best time of 14 minutes 55.50secs.

ON Saturday night, Sonia O’Sullivan watched Berhane Adere win the 10,000m title with her now familiar devastating sprint that demolished the gold medal aspirations of her Ethiopian team-mate Werknesh Kindane and Yingie Sun of China, who were the only two athletes remaining in the contest for the medals at the end of a sensational race.

Sonia O'Sullivan has finished well down the field in the women's 5000m at the London Super Grand Prix. S

SONIA O’SULLIVAN will face no fewer than 10 Africans when she launches her track season at the IAAF Super Grand Prix meeting in Lausanne this evening and one of the 20 strong field, Renee Kalmer from Germany, will follow her home for the BUPA Ireland Cork City Sports on Saturday afternoon.

SONIA O’SULLIVAN did not feel cheated out of an Olympic gold medal when French border police discovered drugs, thought to be performance enhancing, in a car belonging to Gabriela Szabo, two weeks ago.

ROMANIAN Olympic 5,000 metre gold medallist Gabriela Szabo may quit athletics after French border police found a banned substance in her car.

SONIA O’SULLIVAN is confident she will be back on track in time for the new season and that she will be competitive come the world championships in Paris in August.

MARTIN McCARTHY (Leevale) won’t be taking anything for granted when he lines up for the national inter-clubs cross-country championships long course race at Rathdrum on Sunday, for the Corkman has learned from experience.

Olympic gold medalist Gabriela Szabo has been ordered to pay £3,000 (€4,500) to a rival she described as being ugly.

Olympic 5000 metres silver medallist Sonia O’Sullivan has been pre-selected by Athletics Ireland for next year’s IAAF World Indoor Championships.

Tyneside

AS expected, Sonia O’Sullivan and the newly-crowned European 5,000m champion, Marta Dominguez of Spain, will renew rivalry at the Weltklasse in Zurich tonight but Gabriela Szabo has jumped ship and elected to run in the 1,500m race.

GERALDINE HENDRICKEN will end her season in whirlwind fashion taking in the Golden League meetings in Brussels on August 30 and Berlin on September 6 before rounding things off in Rieti two days later.

GERALDINE HENDRICKEN, Ireland’s athletic sensation of the season, will go into action this morning in the women’s 1,500m heats, which have an automatic place in Sunday’s final as the prize for the first three.

THE world of women's middle distance running may be buzzing in advance of the showdown between defending champion Sonia O'Sullivan and Paula Radcliffe in tonight's 10,000m final in Munich, but the newly crowned Commonwealth Games champion played it down yesterday.

THE enduring excellence of Sonia O'Sullivan is cause for celebration.

WITH national champion and record-holder Paul McKee and runner-up Rob Daly opting for the 200m, bronze medallist Antoine Burke will carry Irish hopes in a star-studded 400m at the Dublin International Games tonight.

Ireland’s Sonia O’Sullivan made a winning return to the track in Australia today - just 10 weeks after the birth of her second daughter.

It was a joyless seventh night for Ireland at the World Athletics Championships in Edmonton, as none of the Irish competitors in action managed to progress through the heats at the Commonwealth Stadium.

An athlete competing in Edmonton has tested positive for the endurance-boosting hormone EPO and has been ruled out of the rest of the World Championships.

Sonia O’Sullivan’s dreams of a 1,500 and 3,000m double came to an instant halt two thirds of the way during the longer race when the Cork star fell off the pace.

Cork's Sonia O'Sullivan finished a disappointing seventh in this afternoon's 3000m final in the World Indoor Championships in Lisbon.

Sonia O'Sullivan meets Romanian Gabriela Szabo in the final of the 3000m at the World Indoor Games at Lisbon this afternoon.

Sonia O'Sullivan was in impressive form as she posted the fastest qualifying time in winning her heat of the 3,000m at the World Indoor Championships in Lisbon.