O'Sullivan to take slow road to Athens

Athletics: Sonia O'Sullivan is set to bypass next month's World Cross Country Championships, and instead take a slow and cautious road to the Athens Olympics.

Plans were in place to use the event, fixed for Brussels on March 20th and 21st, as part of her Olympic countdown, but a recent assessment of the season has clearly brought about a change of mind.

Since returning to Australia after the European cross country in Edinburgh last December, O'Sullivan has been gradually turning her training towards Athens. Rather than rush things and reach something of a peak in Brussels, the plan now is to build steadily towards the Olympics, and thus lower the risk of a possible injury, or indeed loss of confidence.

The first three weeks of the new year were spent at altitude at Falls Creek, Victoria, where training went well despite a few minor injury problems, and O'Sullivan has since returned to her Melbourne base. Right now she is not targeting any races in the short term, nor does she intend to commit to anything soon. The World Indoor championships, which take place in Budapest on the first weekend in March, were never part of her early season plans.

Speaking from Melbourne yesterday, O'Sullivan's partner, Nic Bideau, outlined some of the reasons behind O'Sullivan's new approach. "The main thing right now is that we don't want any setbacks," he said. "It's a matter of building up steadily all the way to Athens. She is in good shape, and training well, so it's important to keep going forward all the time, rather than chance any backward step.

"And at the age of 34 she can't be getting worked up for everything that comes along. You can't always be like the younger ones, who rush down the hill and go for the first thing that comes along. The older ones have to walk down the hill, and get the main prize."

Yet there are other reasons why O'Sullivan has become less motivated by the World Cross Country. The chances of repeating the team medals achieved in Edinburgh are considerably slimmer than initially believed, with Catherina McKiernan still a little short of world-class form, and Ann Keenan-Buckley now settled on retirement.

And this time last year O'Sullivan suffered a bad Achilles tendon injury while training towards the World Cross Country in Lausanne, an injury which resulted in some poor track performances early in the season - and ultimately left her chasing full fitness for the entire year. As Athens is sure to be the swansong of her great career, there is, quite sensibly, no desire to take any gambles.

"There's also no real point in trying to take on the Africans now," added Bideau, "when the big goal is not until August. If you start losing now, it eats away at you, and if you win the pressure comes on you. So the plan now is to concentrate on the training, to prepare carefully, and make sure she gets done all the things she needs to do, without rushing it."

At 34 O'Sullivan's hunger for the lesser championships is also not what it used to be. With ideal training conditions prevailing in Melbourne, plus the benefit of good partners such as Australia's Benita Johnson and Craig Mottram, it makes sense for the Irish athlete to attempt to extract the maximum benefit from the coming months, and leave the racing form to the final two weeks of August - when it matters most.

What is certain is that the 5,000 metres - just like Sydney four years ago - remains the sole target for Athens. O'Sullivan has already bagged the necessary qualifying time from the World Championships in Paris last summer, and nothing about the disappointments of 2003 has reduced her ambition of at least holding on to that Olympic silver medal.

Athletics Ireland, meanwhile, has announced that the Irish senior teams for Brussels will be made up of the first three finishers at the national championships in Roscommon on February 22nd, and another three athletes to be chosen at the selectors' discretion.

Only the first juniors home in each race will be selected, with one further junior in each race to be added by the selectors.

This weekend will see a large group of Irish athletes compete at the British AAA Indoor championships in Sheffield, including sprinters Paul Brizzel, Ciara Sheehy and Joanne Cuddihy - all of whom are targeting the World Indoors in Budapest as part of their Olympic aspirations.