Sonia is ready to party after the gold rush
DISGRACED CHINESE OPPONENTS MAY LOSE MEDALS
SONIA O’SULLIVAN is looking forward to ‘a big party’ when the IAAF set the record straight and she is awarded the two world championship gold medals denied her by unheralded Chinese runners in 1993.
Former Chinese team doctor Xue Yinxian recently revealed on a German television documentary that there was such systematic doping in athletics within that country during the 1980s and 1990s, that all medals won by China in that period should be handed back.
O’Sullivan was denied two world titles in Stuttgart when she finished fourth in the 3,000m behind a trio of Chinese athletes (none of whom appeared on the international stage again) and won silver behind Liu Dong (also never heard of since) in the 1500m.
‘I’m looking forward to the big party we will have when the medals do turn up. That will be a bit of fun,’ O’Sullivan said yesterday. ‘It will be huge for Ireland because people remember it very clearly.
‘To me, it’s not going to make a huge difference but people will go and celebrate it and it will be nice to share it with everybody,’ the Cobh native explained, although she did say that it’s reassuring to have her long-held suspicions about the victors confirmed.
‘Just knowing now that things weren’t right is good. At the time, you were thinking how can this be? But you couldn’t say anything because if you did, without any evidence, you’d get in trouble.
‘People are now willing to state the obvious and the medals might not turn up, but they might change the names in the record books and that would be as satisfying as anything for me.’
O’Sullivan was at an IAAF meeting in Frankfurt when the latest revelations emerged, so she asked the sport’s top brass how they will deal with the situation.
‘I was told they have an integrity unit now and they are dealing with it. It is on a list of stuff that will get sorted out. And when it does happen, it is going to be important to a lot of people that they set the record straight.’
O’Sullivan was speaking at the launch of Outdoor Revolution, which takes place at the RDS in March with the purpose of getting people active. She was also on our TV screens last night, putting forward the case of the track and field achievements of the 1980s as Ireland’s greatest sporting moment.
Given the current state of Irish athletics, it will be a long time before we see moments such as those produced by O’Sullivan, Eamonn Coghlan and John Treacy again.
However, O’Sullivan believes that Irish athletes can reach the top of their sport once more. ‘There has be to moments like those again. We have amazing young talent and if that young talent is allowed to develop properly, and that means athletes accepting pain and hardship and running through it, then we can see those moments again.’
She points out that former world champion race walker Rob Heffernan is still the top star in Irish athletics, even though he is on the brink of retirement, and it is up to young athletes to take on the mantle from Heffernan.
‘We can’t just look at the Worlds or Olympic Games. There are stepping stones along the way. There is definitely talent out there and great young athletes. You just have to ask the question why they are not delivering consistently.
‘Look at Robert Heffernan, he is still considered the best Irish athlete and he is on the verge of retiring and he is probably thinking why would I retire when there is nobody there to take your place It is up to the athletes to step up and see there is an opening there if they want to be the next star. And do everything they can to make that happen.’
Ireland’s current lack of success at world level has left an absence of role models in track and field. ‘It is really important. When I was growing up, it was Frank O’Mara, Marcus O’Sullivan and Eamon Coghlan that I looked up to,’ O’Sullivan explained.
‘They were athletes winning on the world stage and you saw how people reacted to them and you wanted to be a part of it. Rowers are doing so well now, not just the boys that are winning medals but the energy around the whole squad and kids see that and want to be a part of that.
‘It is the same with the rugby team, soccer team, always a bit of energy and buzz around being a part of something like that. You have to have role models. There is always talk of having women role models and that is important but women can also have male role models and that is equally as invaluable to the women as it is to men. For me, a lot of the inspiration was to be as good as the men — I used to train alongside men all the time.’
Speaking at the launch of the Outdoor Revolution event, O’Sullivan revealed that rowing and boxing are the two sports she has never tried that she would love to attempt.
The Outdoor Revolution Show takes place at Dublin’s RDS on March 24 and 25 next year
To me, it’s not going to make a huge difference Women can also have male role models