SONIA O'SULLIVAN, who walked off the track in the Grand Prix 5,000 metres final in Milan on Saturday, intends to present herself in Sarajevo today for the Solidarity meeting promoted by the IAAF.
At a time when most of the athletes who competed in Milan were politely turning down invitations to compete there because of the unstable situation in the city, O'Sullivan, together with Irish athlete David Matthews, was intimating her intention of travelling.
"It's a low key meeting with very little pressure - a chance to run and maybe even win again," she said.
In Saturday's race, save from the perspiration dripping from her forehead, there was little manifestation of physical distress as she pulled up abruptly, and walked slowly to a nearby seat to contemplate her latest painful mishap.
Yet, tile sense of disbelief was no less pronounced than in Atlanta six weeks ago when her attempts to gain a medal in the 1,500 metres and 5,000 metres ended in failure, with pain etched on her face. On this occasion, she lasted just 2,000 metres after running uncomfortably, just off the pace set by Catherina McKiernan on the opening two laps.
"I knew that it was 50-50 situation that there was as big a chance of flopping as winning, but I decided I had to go through with it," she said of the race. "After what happened in Atlanta, I felt I had little to lose. Irrespective of what happened here, nothing could compensate for losing two Olympic, medals.
"Once that happened, I lost interest and my biggest fear going into the race was precisely that. On the first two laps, I tried to concentrate on the number on Catherina's back, but found that I couldn't focus, was as stark as that.
"It showed that, mentally, I wasn't ready for the race. Neither was I prepared physically. Yes, I've trained every day but I'm still probably heavier than I should be and compared to where I was last May or June, I've lost a lot of condition.
"But I still had to come here and find out the hard way. That I certainly did, but I'll just write it off to experience."
And the paralells with Atlanta? "Absolutely none," she said. "I dropped out of the Olympics because I was ill. I walked off today because I knew I was going nowhere."
O'Sullivan had long since departed when the race built to an exciting finish with Italy's Roberta Brunet, the Olympic silver medallist, resisting sustained challenges from Geti Wami (Ethiopia) and Pauline Konga (Kenya) to record the most popular success of the day in 14 minutes 54.54 seconds.
Sadly, the promise of McKiernan's early flourish was not sustained, and the strain of a punishing season in which she has run eight 5,000 metres races and two at 10,000, showed in the closing stages when she receded to 12th and last place in 15-48.93.
That sense of tiredness pervaded the meeting. Typical was the non appearance of the American sprinter, Gwen Torrence who, in spite of leading the women's Grand Prix table going into the last event, failed to show. Marie Jose Perec was another mysterious absentee.
The overall award for women went to the former Russian athlete, Ludmila Engquist, now competing in the colours of Sweden.
The corresponding men's award was claimed by the talented young Kenyan, Daniel Komen, who survived a couple of hiccups, notably when he was passed by the Moroccan, Salah Hissou, with three laps to go, to win the 5,000 metres. Second in the men's overall award scheme, was Jonathan Edwards, who finished with a pay cheque for £100,000.
Yet, understandably, the day's outstanding performance belonged to Hicham El Guerrouj, who became the first man in four years to beat Noureddine Morceli over 1,500 metres when crossing the line in three minutes 38.80 sees.
Svetlana Masterkova was an elegant winner of the women's 1,500 metres, in which Sinead Delahunty finished ninth in 4-14-10. Matthews was fifth in 1-46.33 in the men's 800 metres.
