Sonia O'Sullivan is approaching the latest and, possibly, the most critical challenge in a turbulent career with a reassuring sense of calm. O'Sullivan is due on the start line shortly after 6 p.m. local time (8 a.m. Irish time) tomorrow for the heats of a 5,000 metres championship which could be a showpiece of these Games.
Outwardly at least more composed than in the run-up to her ill-fated programme in Atlanta, she seems close to realising her objective of arriving on the start line in prime physical and psychological condition.
"I'm very happy with the way my training is going," she says. "With the Olympics coming so late in the year, the big challenge was to stay involved without wearing yourself out.
"That is why I wasn't too concerned in not winning some of my earlier races. The important thing was to be running well in the second half of September and I feel that I'm now coming good at precisely the right time."
"I can honestly say that I'm looking forward to competing here. Obviously, you have to be a little nervous going in to race in front of a 100,000 crowd. But as long as you're running good and feeling well, you are comfortable and relaxed in yourself.
"I've no self doubts at this point. Atlanta is something I've put out of my mind, so I don't try to make comparisons. But with Nick (her partner Nick Bideau) and (her daughter) Ciara with me on this occasion, I'm very happy with the way things have gone since arriving here."
Athletes with genuine hope of winning Olympic titles normally don't fret unduly about having to run heats. But, chastened by the lessons of history, O'Sullivan is not prepared to take anything for granted.
"If you don't run well in the heats there is no final, its as stark as that," she says. "To that extent, the heat is a final in itself and I'll be preparing just as carefully for my race on Friday as if it were a final.
"I had a very good training session last week, which pleased me. But no matter how much training you do in the weeks leading up to the Games, you're always inclined to keep something in reserve," she says. "The heats are the only means you have of learning how well you are really running.
"There is always an element of surprise in the Olympics and there will be those in the heats who will probably be hiding. But I'll be more concerned about the way I run than with examining the performances of others."
For all that, no fewer than 10 of those entered in the 5,000 metres have posted faster times than the Irishwoman's seasonal best of 15 minutes 10.4 seconds. But on career-best figures only Gabriela Szabo and the Ethiopian, Ayelech Worku have run faster than the 14:41.40 which O'Sullivan recorded in Berlin five years ago.
Fortunately for the rest of the contenders Zahra Oaziz of Morocco, by far the fastest woman at the distance, is currently recuperating from an injury and the word is that Worku, too, has struggled in recent weeks.
That leaves the little Romanian Szabo as the great threat to O'Sullivan's title hopes:
the International Woman Athlete Of The Year in 1999 has a career-best time of 14:31.48, which is well ahead of the Irishwoman's. If the evidence of Grand Prix races is to be accepted at face value, Szabo is not the athlete she once was, but we will soon know if this is true.
To reduce the number of potential champions to just three or four is to err on the side of naivety, however, and among those capable of springing from the pack is the relatively unknown Russian, Olga Yegorova. She produced a blistering last lap of 62 seconds on her way to a winning time of 14:42.91 in Stockholm in July.
Breda Dennehy-Willis and Rosemary Ryan are Ireland's other representatives in the 5,000 metres and, in all, 10 Irish athletes will be in action tomorrow. Among them will be the husband and wife team of Brendan and Sarah Reilly, in the high jump and women's 200 metres respectively. Karen Shinkins, a genuine contender at this level, goes in the heats of the women's 400 metres.
Irish at a glance:
Today
Rowing: Lightweight Coxless Four, semi-final (from 23.10).
Tomorrow
Athletics:
Men - 100m, round one: Paul Brizzel (01.35). 400m, round one: Tomas Coman (00.40). Javelin, qualifying: Terry McHugh (01.30-3.15). High Jump, qualifying: Brendan Reilly (09.25). 20 km walk: Robert Heffernan (02.50).
Women - 200m, round one: Sarah Reilly (03.05-3.50). 400m round one: Karen Shinkins (09.24-10.00). 5,000m round One: Sonia O'Sullivan, Breda Dennehy-Willis, Rosemary Ryan (08.00-08.50).
Equestrian: Individual Three-Day Event: Austin O'Connor, Trevor Smith (01.00-05.45).
