Sonia's ambitious attempt at gold backfires

The only positive result from an Irish point of view to come out of Lisbon yesterday was the announcement that the World Cross Country Championships would be returning to Dublin next March.

While Sonia O'Sullivan's ambitious attempt at double gold in the World Indoor Championships backfired, there was welcome news from the IAAF council meeting when it was unanimously agreed that the championships would once again be granted to Dublin. Foot-and-mouth precautions forced this year's event to be moved to the Belgian town of Ostend.

That, however, is unlikely to offer any consolation to O'Sullivan, who left these championships without any reward from either the 1,500 or 3,000 metres. After a disappointing seventh-place finish in the longer distance on Saturday, she trailed home an even more despondent last in yesterday's 1,500 metres final.

According to the IAAF press chief, Mr Giorgio Reneiri, a considerable amount of work had already been done by the Athletic Association of Ireland and, as the reason this year's event was forced to leave Dublin was completely outside AAI control, it was fitting it should be awarded another opportunity to host the championships.

"We were very happy with the manner and enthusiasm that the AAI displayed in the months leading up to the event," he said.

"It is not usual to give the same city another championships in such a short space of time, but this situation was exceptional, and we are happy to give the event back to a country with such a great athletic and cross-country tradition." The provisional dates have been set for the weekend of March 16th17th, 2002.