In what will likely be her last involvement in a major competition, long-distance star Sonia O'Sullivan finished last place in the women's 5,000 metres final in Athens tonight.
The 2000 Olympic silver medallist in Sydney was never a threat. She fell out of contention during the third lap and was caught and passed by the race leaders after 4,000 metres.
She completed the race in 16:20:49.
"I thought something special was going to happen tonight, but it just wasn't there," she said afterwards.
O'Sullivan said she has been ill the last few days but did not make any excuse for the result.
A small gathering of Irish fans waved flags and urged the runner on.
"Without the people from Ireland in the stands, I probably would not have finished the race," she said.
O'Sullivan's coach Nick Bideau revealed that she had been struggling with a stomach complaint. He said: "Sonia has had a bad stomach problem all day and in truth should not have run but this was the Olympic final. She was very sick after the race."
Meseret Defar of Ethiopia took gold with a patient but perfectly judged display of distance running.
Defar, the 2004 world indoor champion over 3,000 metres, helped to break the field and then kicked decisively 250 metres from home to win in a time of 14 minutes 45.63 seconds.
Kenya's Isabella Ochichi took silver in 14:48.19 with world champion Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia racing past Turkish world record-holder Elvan Abeylegesse to take the bronze in 14:51.83.