When you are training hard you just don’t think about the consequences
Olympic medallist Sonia O’sullivan tells of toll on her body
fall back into your nice routine and you enjoy it again. “It’s really weird because the only place that doesn’t seem to happen for me is when I go to Ireland. I slip back in seamlessly as soon as that plane touches down. It’s a weird feeling.” Daughter Sophie, 23, is following in her mum’s footsteps winning gold in the 1500m at the U23 European Athletic Championships in Espoo, Finland in July. Proud mum Sonia said: “She surprised us all this summer, I’ve always encouraged her to go through all the different stepping stones through the different age groups. “By running there to then qualify for the World Championships was really exciting. She came very close to getting to the next round, but in the process qualified for the Olympics next year.
“As much as I coach other athletes, I think the way I would react with Sophie would be a lot different because you’re a lot more emotionally involved in what she’s doing.”
Sonia recalled how running was one of the few sporting options for girls when she was younger.
She added: “When I was growing up running was the only thing for us, now there are so many opportunities for girls and they push each other to be great, they’re the stars of tomorrow and the Olympians.”
After competing on Masterchef Ireland in 2017 Sonia admitted she was “a little bit too confident”.
She said: “Sometimes you kind of think that you’re good at cooking, but you know it may taste good, but it might not look so good. I needed to work on my plating up.” Despite being asked several times to compete on Dancing With The Stars she has repeatedly declined.
Sonia laughed: “I have been asked many times but it’s definitely way outside my comfort zone.”
Now she’s embracing her new role as a coach on RTE’S Ireland’s Fittest Families and hails the mothers as the strongest link.
She said: “The strongest people out there were mothers. They were the ones who were doing everything for their families to get the result that they could.
“They don’t want to let the kids down, sometimes the mother’s feel like they’re the weakest link but they end up being the strongest.”
She revealed coach Donncha
O’callaghan can be sneaky on set.
She said: “I saw Donncha taking notes and jotting down all these things about his families, I’m trying to work out what the hell’s he doing?
“You know there’s little secrets on set and things that I don’t know and they’re taken advantage of, and they’re not telling me.”
Despite her accolades, fellow coaches Donncha, Davy Fitzgerald and Nina Carberry are not threatened by her. She added: “They weren’t in awe of me, I said to Davy look I’m not running, I’m just standing on the sidelines with you.”
Ireland’s Fittest Families continues on Sundays on RTE One at 6.30pm.
I have been asked to do Dancing With The Stars many times but it’s way outside my comfort zone