Sonia dressed to impress

SONIA O'SULLIVAN admitted yesterday that she made a mistake running in Gateshead last week - and pledged to return to her winning ways tomorrow in the BUPA Cork City Sports.

O'Sullivan's legion of fans took a sharp intake of breath when O'Sullivan trailed in 10th at the Gateshead meet 1,500m, but the Cobh woman insisted yesterday she wasn't bothered by the performance.

"Maybe I should not have run that race," she said. "I went into it without really thinking too much about it. Originally there had been a 3,000m on the programme but they dropped it in favour of a 10,000m so I decided to run the 1,500m late.

"I have drifted for the 1,500m races. I don't train at the distance anymore and I don't prepare for it. I had been training quite hard for the two weeks beforehand-­ maybe too hard without realising it I was enjoying it so much. I was really getting a lot of work done and I was not as rested as I should have been."

It will be a different situation when she lines up for her last 5,000m race before the Olympics at the Cork City Sports tomorrow.

"I am quite rested and I am going to write down what I want to achieve from the race," she said. "I did the same thing last year when I went to Cork and I came out of that all right. When I get through this weekend, I will plan the remainder of the season and the lead-up to the Olympics."

That will certainly include a 3,000m at the Weltklasse in Zurich where she has a phenomenal record - 8:37.55 last year - and two weeks training in Spain, where she could run another 3,000m at the Madrid meet.

"I will not go to Athens until late," she said. "My race is not until 11 o'clock at night so there will be no problem with intense heat or sunshine. But I think it is important to train in the heat a couple of weeks. There is a place in Spain with a park and a track and friends to look after me there."

Sonia was strutting her stuff yesterday, modelling the chic new uniform for the Irish Olympic team - lightweight wool stripe jackets with skirts for the women and trousers for the men and light blue cotton shirts and blouses.

The outfits were designed by Paul Costelloe, for Penney's, and were unveiled at Trinity College where O'Sullivan was joined by sailor, Rory Fitzpatrick.

Costelloe said he was delighted to be involved in designing the team outfit. "Working on this project has been one of my greatest achievements," he said.

The Cork event this weekend provides the Irish with a final opportunity to achieve qualifying times for Athens.

OCI president Pat Hickey said: "The deadline has worked tremendously well and, thanks to the co-operation of the Irish Sports Council and the various National Governing Bodies, we will have the best prepared and happiest Olympic team ever," he said.

Ireland has 48 competitors qualified for Athens but he admitted he would have liked to have at least two more to make the 50 as this would give them greater access to services.

"But I have to say that this is a quality team," he said. "After the 2000 Olympics we got a lot of criticism over bringing out a lot of athletes who did not perform. As a result of the findings of the Sydney review body, we set the criteria for selection and I think it has worked out well."

Asked if there was a possibility that an athlete who achieved a standard over the coming weeks might be included, he said there was not. "I did think of one exception and that was high jumper, Adrian O'Dwyer. He is a special talent and I am very pleased he is coming to Athens."