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Although she was not as dominant as she had been in 1994 and 1995, Sonia
O'Sullivan continued to be the major force to be reckoned with during
1996 at the distances between 1500m and 5000m. Her best event in 1996
was the 3000m, where she was unbeaten for the third successive year,
winning all five of her races. O'Sullivan produced the early season
leading time of 8min 42.40sec in Eugene on 26 May, and then at Nice, on
10 July, she recorded the year's fastest time of 8min 35.42sec. In the
1500m, only two women broke 4 minutes during the year, one of whom was
Sonia, who clocked her best time of 3min 59.91sec when winning at the
Bislett Games in Oslo on 5 July. In terms of preparation for the
Olympic Games held later that year in Atlanta, O'Sullivan's best event
appeared to be the 5000m, the distance at which she was the reigning
world champion. On 5 June, at the Golden Gala meet in Rome, Sonia won
in 14min 54.75sec.
A month later, on 12 July, at the Securicor Games in
London, she beat a strong field to win in 14min 48.36sec. The program
at the Olympic Games in Atlanta was sufficiently scheduled to allow
O'Sullivan to contest both the 5000m and 1500m events. Her early season
form and her world title win the previous year had made her favourite
for the 5000m, and everything seemed on track when she easily won her
heat in 15min 15.80sec. However, in the final on 28 July, she was badly
affected by a stomach upset, and, after starting well (see photo above),
she gradually faded away and failed to finish. Her disappointment
continued in the 1500m, where, still weakened, she came second last in
her heat and failed to qualify for the final. (Ron Casey)
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