Sonia O'Sullivan (born 28 November 1969) is an Irish former track and field athlete. She won a gold medal in the 5000 metres at the 1995 World Championships, and a silver medal in the 5000 metres at the 2000 Olympic Games. Her 2000 m world record of 5:25.36, set in 1994 stood until 2017. O'Sullivan first came to prominence when winning the 1500 m at the 1991 Universiade, before going on to finish fourth in the 3000 m final at the 1992 Olympic Games. She then won a silver medal in the 1500 m at the 1993 World Championships. She was the favourite for the 5000 m title at the 1996 Olympic Games but dropped out of the final due to illness. As well as her 1995 World title, she won three gold medals at the European Championships, in the 3000 m (1994), 5000 m (1998) and 10,000 m (1998), and is a two-time World Cross Country Champion. O'Sullivan won silver medals in the 5000 m and 10,000 m at the 2002 European Championships, and competed at her fourth Olympic Games in 2004. She is known for her dramatic kick, clocking 28-second final 200 m splits in some of her races. She is the one of two women (the other Tirunesh Dibaba) who won the short and long course World Cross Country title at the same championship (1998 in Marrakesh). Early career Born in Cobh, County Cork, O'Sullivan was educated in Cobh Community College. She completed her leaving certificate in 1987. O'Sullivan's first major international competition was the 1990 European Championships at Split, where she finished 11th in the 3000 m. However, O'Sullivan improved quickly after that, and on 26 January the following year, at Boston, she set a new world indoor record in the 5000 m of 15:17.28, taking more than 5 seconds off the old record. At the time, O'Sullivan (who attained a sporting scholarship) was studying accountancy at Villanova University in the US, and at the World Student Games at Sheffield in July 1991, she won the 1500 m Gold Medal in 4:12.14, and the silver medal in the 3000 m in 8:56.55. At the start of 1992, she finished 7th in the World Cross Country Championships. She won the Honda Sports Award as the nation's top female cross country runner in 1991–92. In 1992, O'Sullivan improved her personal bests in a number of distances between 800