ON THE SIDELINES

GRABBING a sports star immediately after a major event has become an increasingly commonplace part of the journalist's lot, but it remains one of the most uncomfortable and least predictable aspects of the job.

When Tony O'Donoghue attempted to interview Sonia O'Sullivan after her elimination from the 1,500 metres during the week, the athlete bravely attempted to enter into a meaningful exchange, until her emotions got the better of her and she moved away as the tears began to flow. It was a painful moment to watch and, presumably, an even more painful one for O'Donoghue to have been part of.

The BBC, meanwhile, had problems of a different sort after a victory in the rowing prompted a quick interview with Steve Redgrave. The still elated athlete announced to the folks watching in the middle of the afternoon back home that his colleague, Matthew Pinsent, had been "f**ing brilliant", before adding that if anybody ever saw him near a boat again "they have my permission to shoot me".

SURE, if they did it in England we'd all have a good auld scoff, but the RTE Guide this week includes the confident prediction that Bill O'Herlihy will be looking forward to Sonia O'Sullivan's 1,500 metre final in its listings section. Sadly, it was not to be.

IT may not seem like much consolation to her now, but in the years to come Sonia may at least come to reflect with some pride on the fact that she did her best at Atlanta 96 in difficult circumstances.

Not so Alhassan Leiodi, a heavyweight boxer from Ghana, who, four years ago, missed out on a fight in the Barcelona Games because he came down with malaria after arriving in the city.

This time he travelled to the US only, on the eve of his first bout, to tell his manager that he was going for a walk in the athletes' village and promptly absconded. The only sighting of the man since was, apparently, as he entered a New York nightclub with his brother, who drives a cab in the city.

FORMER European silver medallist and new television star Gary O'Toole is paying the price for his recent lame. Last week he was spotted, as he tried to eat a burger, surrounded by a gang of youths demanding that he predict the precise time it would take them to get served at the counter.

THE success of the European football championships for RTE have quickly been put in the shade by remarkably strong viewing figures for this year's hurling championship, with almost 500,000 tuning into some or all of the recent programme that showed both the Leinster and Munster finals.

In all, 455,000 viewers saw at least some of the package, with 412,000 sitting down to take in the coverage of Wexford and Offaly. Limerick against Clare, meanwhile, attracted a national audience of 370,000, more than the 359,000 which the meeting of Germany and the Czech Republic managed last month, although that game was shown live by both British networks.

PICTURE the scene. You are about to row for a place in an Olympic final. Years of backbreaking work have got you to this point and your mind is entirely focused on the job. Then, just when you didn't need it, you can't stop thinking about rodents. Forget the race, now the beads of sweat are really beginning to gather on your forehead.

Unlikely as it sounds, this is precisely what happened to Irish rower Neville Maxwell as he prepared for his first heat in the coxless fours last week.

"We rented a house from a local family and one of the conditions was that we fed the hamster each morning," he explained. "I volunteered, but as I was lining up for an early heat I remembered that I had left the lid off the cage. There are two cats in the house and I was worried."

A Taiwanese farmer whose singing is used on the theme music to RTE's Olympic coverage and advertisements for the Games internationally is attempting to sue for royalties after not receiving a penny for the use of his voice on the song.

Kuo Ying nan, a 76 year old tribesman, and his wife, Hsiu chu, sang for a recording to be stored by a museum while on a tour of France with other musicians from their homeland a couple of years ago and were apparently never asked for their permission prior to the museum selling the recording to a record producer.

Now their vocals have been put onto a track called the Age of Innocence by a group called Enigma, which has been used by many countries for their Olympic coverage.

"We saw the advertisement and were really happy," he said, "but then I was sad when I realised that I hadn't got any credit and nobody knew that it was a Taiwanese person singing."

THE Irish Amateur Swimming Association, along with just about every Irish sports body, has once again come under fire over the past few weeks for the lack of direct financial support to our athletes during their preparations for Atlanta.

In Britain, however, where there has been considerable dismay with their poor medal haul, there are even greater recriminations afoot. The enormous growth in funding from that country's national lottery has yet to have any impact on most of the team members in action over the past couple of weeks.

One particularly astonishing case is that of British swimming captain Alan Rapley, who received the princely sum of £43.76 in cash to assist with his training this year. It came from the North East Swimming Association, and Rapley says: "Even then, I spent the money on the phone bill trying to get it off them."