There it ended. Lathered in sweat, streaked with tears and spooked by self- doubt, Sonia O'Sullivan departed the World Athletics Championships in Athens last night.
She struggled throughout this 5,000 metres semi-final. Poignantly, this was the sort of race she would have relished two years ago when her career was unclouded by illness or doubt. She now faces a long period of contemplation, during which she will seek to assess the future of a turbulent career.
O'Sullivan was in trouble throughout the second half of a race run at middling pace and won by her old adversary Fernanda Ribeiro. Just two years ago in Gothenburg, she became champion of the world at this distance, leaving Ribeiro with a silver medal.
Last night, despite a sprint finish which brought her into seventh place in the heat, she never came close to capturing one of the three places reserved for the fastest losers in the heats.
Her performance - so reminiscent of her distress in Atlanta last summer - raised the question as to what she was doing in Athens this week when she was so obviously out of sorts.
It was a poignant, soul-destroying night for a woman who has steadfastly refused to accept the evidence of her recent decline. O'Sullivan finished the race in 15:40.82, almost a minute outside her personal best time set two years ago in Hechtel.
Since Atlanta, O'Sullivan has never come close to regaining the invincibility she showed just a couple of seasons ago. This season, despite employing a new coach, her racing has been tactically tentative and her times have been some way off the marks she set in her prime.
"I still believe that I am in good shape. I'm not unfit. There is definitely something wrong, though. I felt everything was OK and I was looking forward to racing in the final. I had planned to take the lead with five laps to go, but there was nothing there. I was stuck to the track tonight and I just wasn't going anywhere. I thought maybe I should stop then I said `No, I'm not doing that, I'm not going to quit'."
Running shoes in hand, tears on her cheeks, she turned and walked out of the Athens stadium and towards a future of uncertainty.