Safi, a port city on Morocco’s Atlantic coast, is not the kind of place you expect to be reminded of the seismic and lasting impact of an athlete from Cobh

Sonia at 50, then.

TEN years ago, Chinese trio Qu Yunxia, Zhang Linli and Zhang Lirong deprived Sonia O’Sullivan of a medal in the final of the 3,000m at the world championships in Stuttgart.

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.