Sonia O’Sullivan: A jog down Olympic memory lane shows how far Irish athletes have come

Every now and then I get sent a reminder of that RTÉ clip of me after winning the national senior cross-country as a schoolgirl in 1987, in Killenaule, Co Tipperary. It was my first television interview, and I managed to announce to the entire nation that I’d like to go to the Olympics now that I reached the level of best in Ireland.
It didn’t matter to me that cross-country wasn’t even an Olympic sport, or that I didn’t even know where the next Olympics were, it just seemed natural that this was the next step.
Up to that point, I had never met any Olympic athlete either. There was definitely not the same connection that we have today with the current athletes, and the next generation of young athletes inspired to find the sport for them to aspire to and build their Olympic dreams.
I also remember John Treacy winning the silver medal in the marathon in Los Angeles in 1984, and the celebrations when he came home.
But the athlete that always stood out as the quintessential Olympian is Ronnie Delany, and his gold medal from Melbourne in 1956, won over the 1,500m. An event that so many can relate to, the metric mile.
Ronnie has always been the first Olympian I recall being a household name in Ireland, a name my parents and grandparents related to long before I ever started competing and chasing my Olympic dreams.
[ How Ronnie Delany’s golden moment dawned slowly in IrelandOpens in new window ]
After I won that national cross-country in 1987, I remember, too, the shock and surprise when my mother answered the phone and then came in and told me Ronnie Delany was on the phone.
I’m certain it was a star-struck moment for my mother more than myself at the time.
For years after his Melbourne success, the first question Ronnie would be asked was “did you bring it?”. Meaning his medal, and it was a long-standing query whenever Ronnie turned up anywhere, as so many people were enthralled by him winning only Ireland’s fourth ever Olympic gold medal.
To me Ronnie has always been the godfather of Irish Olympians, the one person that realised the importance and significance of being an Olympian and how this passed on from generation to generation, being part of this very exclusive club.
One that could so very easily be taken for granted when you are just out there training and competing and doing what you love to do and being good at it.
Once an Olympian, always an Olympian, he’d say, and there is certainly no such thing as a former Olympian.
Ronnie also initiated the Irish Olympians Association that brings together many different Irish Olympians each year on Olympic Day. Róisín McGettigan, who ran the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, is the current president and the aim is to continue to connect more Irish Olympians, and also build connections in their local communities and celebrate all Olympians, including those who may not have been appreciated at the time they competed as much as they are now.
The Olympic Federation of Ireland will take this to a new level on Saturday night, celebrating 100 years of Irish Olympic athletes at the annual Olympic Ball in Dublin.
Well over 1,000 athletes have represented Ireland at the summer Olympic Games since Paris 1924 and at at the winter Olympic Games since 1992.
More than 600 athletics have been invited to Saturday’s event, which I’m very much looking forward to attending, as this will be the largest gathering of all Irish Olympic team members ever.
Most of the recent Paris medallists will be attendance, as well as Olympians from as far back as 1960.
Every Olympian has now been assigned a number to signify when they qualified and competed in their first Olympics.
In all, a total of 42 medals have been won, 15 gold, 10 silver and 17 bronze across seven different sports; athletics, boxing, rowing, swimming, sailing, equestrian and gymnastics.
Athletics has always been the biggest sport at the Olympics and the sport of which I have my earliest Olympic memories, listening in the car on the radio when Marcus O’Sullivan and Frank O’Mara were competing in Los Angeles in 1984.
These were the athletes I could relate most to, when my interest in athletics was developing as a young teenage athlete in Cobh. This was also the Olympics when 800m runner Caroline O’Shea was the first Irish woman to run in an Olympic final.
When I first competed at the Olympics in Barcelona in 1992 it was a special moment for me but I was also lucky to be surrounded by great team-mates to whom I still remain close today. We were there for each other and my fondest Olympic memories are from the training camp we had in the weeks before, which brought us together and alleviated any nerves that were starting to creep in as race day approached.
The ultimate achievement is to win an Olympic medal, yet when I was competing in 1992 it seemed a step too far for most Irish athletes. We all celebrated when Michael Carruth won his gold medal and Wayne McCollough backed it up with his silver medal in the boxing ring.
Medals always seemed like the exception for Ireland at the Olympics, when we hoped to do well and only dreamed of medals, yet we were still able to appreciate the Olympics for all that they were.
It’s this overall Olympic experience that will bring so many athletes together this Saturday to reminisce and recall the good old days where it all began, when we inspired the next generation and we didn’t even realise it at the time.
Back in Barcelona in 1992, there were just three female athletes on the Irish athletics team of 19. The full team of 58 was made up of 49 men and nine women across 12 sports.
Even though Maeve Kyle was the pioneer of Irish women at the Olympic Games in 1956, 1960 and 1964, there was not a great deal of change or encouragement of more women to strive to be Olympians.
The fact that in 26 years there was still just a fraction of women on the Olympic team is staggering and even more so that we didn’t realise it at the time and take action.
Fast-forward to 2024, almost 70 years later and women are on par with the men on the Irish Olympic team. We no longer as a nation go to the Olympics hoping for medals, and in the past 24 years, half of Ireland’s total Olympic medals have been won.
Once we were just inspired to participate at the Olympics, now our young athletes are seeing that winning is possible. The most successful Olympic Games in Paris delivered seven medals, four of which were gold.
We have seen what is possible and were not far off even more medals this past summer. We no longer live in hope and dreams but in knowing what it takes to realise those dreams. Irish athletes now go to the Olympics knowing we belong and feel the respect we deserve on the Olympic stage.