Poignant end to Sonia’s bid for glory

AND so it ends. All those nights of shredding fingernails with hearts in our mouths, those nights when our hearts were warmed and broken; in all likelihood, they ended last night as Sonia O’Sullivan finished the 5,000m final in Athens.

It’s fitting that one of the great Irish sporting stories came to an end in this city, so evocative and redolent with athletic achievement. Sonia’s trials and tribulations have entertained and enthralled us like those of few other Irish athletes.

In one respect, it didn’t matter where she finished last night. There was always going to be a sense of sadness hanging over the occasion - the sort of sadness that comes with closure. Last night, Sonia was draping a veil over a national love affair.

It has been an affair that has lasted 14 years, since she burst into our psyche as a young woman with an awesome kick in a 3,000m European Championship final in Split.

From then on, her races had a nation glued to our television screens. As one, we implored her to kick whenever we saw a glimpse of hope.

Last night was her fifth Olympic final, an astonishing achievement in a career that has assured her of greatness. And while O’Sullivan reached 11 other major championship finals, she will forever be associated with the Olympics.

We lived every kick of her previous four finals.

There was the innocent fourth in Barcelona when Sonia, still young and not yet worldly-wise, agonisingly missed out on a medal.

In Atlanta, we averted our eyes as a teary-eyed Sonia was sought out by our national broadcaster, her dream in tatters. And yet, despite our own tale of tarnished gold, it was Sonia’s story that stood out, along with the quiet dignity of her father, John, who reminded a nation that nobody died on the track, just another dream.

And of course, Sydney, her redemption song when she went stride for stride with the young Romanian Gabi Szabo in the 5,000m final, setting a new Irish record in the process. A couple of days later, she managed to finish sixth in the 10,000m final.

Even now, in Athens, when so much youth fills the Irish team, it is still O’Sullivan who will define this Olympics. We might remember the despair of Sam Lynch and Gearóid Towey, the endeavour of Andy Lee, the disappointment of Adrian O’Dwyer, but we are left with Sonia.

She ran in five World Championship finals, each race a step on the ladder. From fourth in her first final, she captured silver in Stuggart and then there was that golden evening in Gothenburg with an entire nation, once again, imploring her to kick.

And then, there were the many times O’Sullivan was champion of Europe. Once in Helsinki, and twice in Budapest. And there were two silvers in Munich asfather time was catching up.

It caught her last year at the World Championships in Paris when O’Sullivan, a 33-year-old mother of two, watched the 5,000m be won by the Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba, a full 14 years her junior.

Last night, she lined up with fresh-faced athletes, enjoying their first Olympics, runners not even teenagers when she came that agonising fourth in Barcelona. And yet, there was Sonia, still carrying our hopes as everywhere else we looked in Athens, all we saw was disappointment and defeat.

We might see O’Sullivan on the big stage again, but it won’t be on the biggest stage of all. It won’t be on the Olympic stage, where this national love affair was most crystallised. Every four years, Sonia’s story defined our Olympics.

As she reflected after Atlanta, “I expected so much and everyone in Ireland expected so much.” Her career summed up in a line. Last night, we shared in her experiences one last time. It was a wonderful ride.