Gillian’s Olympic preparations start at walking pace

GILLIAN O’SULLIVAN returns home on Saturday with her silver medal from the women’s 20k walk at the World championships and is looking forward to a well earned holiday.

She arrives at Cork Airport at 4 pm with team mate, Olive Loughnane, who lives in Cork. "And it won't be a foreign holiday. I've had enough of travel for the time being," she said.

O'Sullivan has been to far flung destinations like Tijuana, where she won the opening Grand Prix of the season, as well as Spain, Italy and Russia, and she had a spell training at Font Romeu before finally returning to France for the world championships. "I just want a break at home," she added.