Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
John O'Sullivan, Sonia O'Sullivan's father, at the National Treasures roadshow in Cork
column
'Sonia was almost the perfect Irish hero courageous, determined, yet fragile and all too human'
Moreover, Irish sport has continually demonstrated our nation’s capacity to unite behind certain events and certain individuals, writes Dr Richard McElligott.
8.46am, 8 Apr 2018
1.7k
12
OBJECTS DEFINE OUR our nation’s history. That is the essential concept behind National Treasures.
Over four roadshows my fellow curators and I were confronted with hundreds of items, each a cherished and significant part of the lives of the people who turned up to share them.
From these we were asked to select a sample which we felt best reflected the social, cultural, design and sporting history of this island over the past century – a daunting task. The fruits of this endeavour will be aired in RTÉ One’s four-part National Treasures series beginning this evening.
Sporting history
Given my academic interest in Ireland’s sporting history, I was asked to concentrate on items which would reveal to the viewer the rich tapestry of the nation’s sporting heritage. Sport offers a wonderful window into Irish society and the complexities, nuances and contradictions of Irish life are continuously revealed through our sporting history.
Moreover, Irish sport has continually demonstrated our nation’s capacity to unite behind certain events and certain individuals.
Sonia O’Sullivan is undoubtedly one of those individuals. A personal highlight of the project, which viewers will see in the first episode, was getting to select O’Sullivan’s running gear from the Barcelona Olympics and discussing her illustrious career with her father John.
Such a talent
Sonia was not just Ireland’s most renowned female athlete; she was one of the greatest sports stars Ireland has ever seen. It is amazing now to think that this small country, with a relatively unremarkable pedigree in international athletics, produced such a talent.
Advertisement
Sonia dominated world middle-distance running in the mid-1990s. Having first shot to prominence with a fourth-place finish in the 1,500 meters in Barcelona, she went on to win gold in the 1995 World Championships, gold in three European Championships and gold twice in the 1998 World Cross Country Championships. In 1994 she smashed the 2000 meters world record by three seconds, a time not subsequently bested until February 2017.
Yet more than her talents and her unprecedented successes on the world stage, it was the high-profile setbacks experienced in the Atlanta Olympics that helped endear her to the Irish public.
A stomach illness ensured that despite being the odds-on favourite for the 5,000 metres, she failed to finish the final. It struck me as I listened to John talk with such pride about his daughter how we, as a nation, were also so emotionally invested in her. We shared her pain and agony on that humid summer night in Georgia and, like her father, we revelled as she returned to the world stage resolved to erase that failure.
Athletic redemption
Her athletic redemption culminated on September 25 2000. In the final of the Sydney Olympics 5000 meters, Ireland came to a standstill as we collectively roared on our unassuming hero from Cobh.
I can only imagine the emotions John felt as his daughter hunted down Romania’s Gabriela Szabo in a captivating sprint finish. Szabo did just enough to hold on to gold, but O’Sullivan’s silver was the first Olympic medal won by an Irish woman in athletics. It was also the country’s first track and field Olympic medal since John Treacy’s silver in 1984.
Throughout a glittering career, Sonia filled us with excitement and nerves. A proven winner who nevertheless suffered huge disappointment, Sonia was almost the perfect Irish hero: courageous, determined, yet fragile and all too human.
The items John so graciously filmed with us showcase one of the most astounding talents to emerge from an Irish athletics tradition that stretches all the way back to the eighteenth century. Yet on a more personal level, they demonstrate the quiet but immense pride of a father in his daughter’s achievements.
It is that link between the personal and the greater historical context that is at the heart of the National Treasures project.
Dr Richard McElligott is a lecturer in modern Irish history in University College Dublin and a curator on RTE’s National Treasures, a four-part series starting this Sunday on RTÉ One at 6.30pm.
Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article.
Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
59 people dead following nightclub fire in North Macedonia
Updated
2 hrs ago
38.9k
37
credit issues
Prepay Three customers affected by credit issues today to have balance restored in coming hours
1 hr ago
1.9k
0
Yemen
Trump announces 'decisive and powerful military action' as strikes start in Yemen
Updated
23 hrs ago
63.3k
Your Cookies. Your Choice.
Cookies help provide our news service while also enabling the advertising needed to fund this work.
We categorise cookies as Necessary, Performance (used to analyse the site performance) and Targeting (used to target advertising which helps us keep this service free).
We and our 157 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or unique identifiers, on your device. Selecting Accept All enables tracking technologies to support the purposes shown under we and our partners process data to provide. If trackers are disabled, some content and ads you see may not be as relevant to you. You can resurface this menu to change your choices or withdraw consent at any time by clicking the Cookie Preferences link on the bottom of the webpage .Your choices will have effect within our Website. For more details, refer to our Privacy Policy.
We and our vendors process data for the following purposes:
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
Cookies Preference Centre
We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent. You may exercise your right to consent, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in the link under each purpose. Some vendors may process your data based on their legitimate interests, which does not require your consent. You cannot object to tracking technologies placed to ensure security, prevent fraud, fix errors, or deliver and present advertising and content, and precise geolocation data and active scanning of device characteristics for identification may be used to support this purpose. This exception does not apply to targeted advertising. These choices will be signaled to our vendors participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework.
Manage Consent Preferences
Necessary Cookies
Always Active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Store and/or access information on a device 109 partners can use this purpose
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development 141 partners can use this purpose
Use limited data to select advertising 111 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Create profiles for personalised advertising 83 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Use profiles to select personalised advertising 83 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Create profiles to personalise content 38 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Use profiles to select personalised content 34 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Measure advertising performance 132 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Measure content performance 60 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources 74 partners can use this purpose
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Develop and improve services 83 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Use limited data to select content 38 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
Use precise geolocation data 46 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification 27 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors 90 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Deliver and present advertising and content 97 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Match and combine data from other data sources 72 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Link different devices 53 partners can use this feature
Always Active
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically 86 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
Save and communicate privacy choices 68 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say