SANDRA Bullock, who turned 50 in July and starred last year in the box office sci-fi hit Gravity, had to get her body in amazing shape for the film.

Robert Heffernan is in line to win a retrospective bronze medal in the 20km race walk from the 2010 European Championships in Barcelona after Russian Stanislav Emelyanov was found to have committed an anti-doping violation.

Joe Schmidt hadn’t a word of French when he pitched up in the Massif Central town of Clermont-Ferrand back in 2007, but the Kiwi coach was a quick learner and he’s still known for dropping the odd peu de Francais into his vocabulary on those weeks when the opposition is of a Gallic flavour.

Now that the Christmas overindulgence is over, Tanya Sweeney asks five well-known personal trainers how they stay in shape and what their New Year’s resolutions are.

A PREGNANT mother of two has caused controversy by posting photos of herself lifting weights on Facebook.

Rob’s gold medal-winning performance in Moscow yesterday was the end result of a long process, one that started as far back as the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

As Rob Heffernan conquered the streets of Moscow yesterday, Gillian O’Sullivan was pacing around the sitting room of her Ballincollig home.

Robert Heffernan’s medal chances have been significantly enhanced with the withdrawal of Russian Olympic champion Sergey Kirdyapkin for this morning’s 50km race walk at the World Championships in Moscow and double 50km Olympian Colin Griffin believes the Corkman is on course for a treasured medal.

MICHELLE Obama and her daughters Malia and Sasha are planning to visit Ireland this month. If they do make it to these shores, you can bet there will be a huge media scrum surrounding them, with camera lenses focussed on the First Lady’s megawatt smile and world-famous arms.

Irish race-walking legend Olive Loughnane has announced her retirement from international

Former world championship silver medallist Olive Loughnane has retired from athletics.

We challenged three busy mums to take time out and do something for themselves. It was easier said than done, writes Catherine Shanahan.

IN a culture where beauty and youth are worshipped, women are putting themselves under increasing pressure to hold back the years.

DERVAL O’ROURKE (Leevale) bounced back from a disastrous run in Crystal Palace the previous day to win her ninth title at the Woodies DIY National Senior Championships at Morton Stadium yesterday.

CIARÁN Ó LIONÁIRD (Leevale), fresh from his sensational 1,500m run in Oordegem, Belgium, will contest the 800m at this weekend’s Woodies DIY national senior championships at Morton Stadium, Santry.

CIARA MAGEEAN (City of Lisburn) kept Irish athletics in the headlines after winning silver in the 1,500m at the European junior track and field championships in Tallinn yesterday.

DESPITE less than ideal weather conditions a grand total of 50,000 runners and walkers took part in yesterday’s bank holiday marathons in Cork and Dublin which raised millions of euro for charity.

Today's Bord Gáis Energy Cork City Marathon was won by Moldovian Sergiu Ciobanu in a time of 2:25:54.

World race-walking silver medallist, Olive Loughnane was crowned The Irish Times/Irish Sports Council ‘Sportswoman of the Year 2009’ today for her performance at the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Berlin earlier this year.

OLIVE LOUGHNANE, silver medallist in the 20k walk at the world championships in Berlin, was named Ireland’s ‘Athlete of the Year’ at an awards ceremony in the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Santry, on Saturday night.

Olive Loughnane of Loughrea AC was named Athlete of the Year at tonight’s National Athletics Awards in Dublin.

RACE walker Olive Loughnane reflected on a memorable season yesterday after she topped a year in which she claimed world championship silver in Berlin in May, with a new national record in Russia at the weekend.

Cork’s World Championship star, Olive Loughnane has been named The Irish Times/Irish Sports Council ‘Sportswoman of the Month Award’ for August today for her superb performance in the twenty-kilometre walk at the Berlin event last month.

OLIVE LOUGHNANE delivered on the promise shown at last year’s Olympic Games when she won the silver medal in the women’s 20k walk at the world championships in Berlin yesterday.

THE country’s most inclusive marathon got a massive energy boost yesterday.

TWO choirs have released a Christmas CD to raise money for an elderly support group.

TWO choirs have released a Christmas CD to raise money for a leading elderly support group.

ROBERT HEFFERNAN ended up ninth in the IAAF Racewalking Challenge — the Grand Prix of Race walking — following what has been a sensational year for the Cork athlete.

EILEEN O’KEEFFE faces the most exciting assignment of her athletics career to date when she contests the final of the women’s hammer competition at the world championships in Osaka today (1.30pm Irish time).

EILEEN O’KEEFFE could break the Irish record in the hammer for a third time in just over a week if things go according to plan at the Lee Strand international track and field meeting in Castleisland tonight.

ROBERT HEFFERNAN could get close to a medal if everything goes well at the European Race-Walking Cup in Leamington Spa tomorrow.

THE get-up-and-go attitude of three schools has earned them €5,000 each in the Active School Awards 2007.

Irish race-walker Gillian O’Sullivan has today announced her retirement from competitive athletics at the age of 30.

RACEWALKERS Robert Heffernan and Colin Griffin will pursue Olympic and world championship qualifying standards this weekend.

SEAN KELLY has dismissed as a “fallacy” the notion that the recent upsurge in sports funding and facilities will mean that all Irish athletes will soon train full-time in this country.

ROBERT HEFFERNAN will be looking for the performance of a lifetime when he faces double European champion, Francisco Fernandez, in the 5,000m walk at the Irish Indoor Championships at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast tomorrow, with Gillian O’Sullivan also looking for something special.

THE tremor that rocked Irish sport last year when leading sportsmen and women were dropped from the grants scheme or had their funding cut has eased and only minor after-shocks are likely to be experienced when the details of the Carding Scheme and the Performance Plan are revealed early in the New Year.

IN the whimsical world of children, where deadlines and clock-in times are immaterial, Gillian O’Sullivan, 36, is blessed with an understanding boss and childminder.

OLIVE LOUGHNANE will put her preparation to the test when she lines-up for the women’s 20k walk tomorrow morning.

IT is easy to forget that only two years ago, Olive Loughnane was the 12th fastest female race-walker in the world over 20k. But the statistic seemed to get lost in the hysteria after her team-mate and friend Gillian O’Sullivan claimed a world championship silver in Paris.

EIGHT sportspeople have been named in the Athletics Ireland’s World Class Panel, a key component of the Association’s new Performance Plan.

GILLIAN O’SULLIVAN is back in full training but the world silver medallist has resigned herself to the fact that she won’t run at the world championships in Helsinki in August.