Sonia cleared to run in Commonwealth Games

Common Sense

Sonia gets Commonwealth all clear
Sunday, 12 March 2006 1:03



Sonia O'Sullivan will represent Australia in the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne

Sonia O'Sullivan will be able to compete for Australia at the Commonwealth Games despite plans to change eligibility rules in Melbourne.

The 36-year-old Cobh athlete is due to compete in the 5,000 metres after being granted dual citizenship.

Under normal IAAF rules she must wait three years to compete for another country.


But organisers have accepted that the Commonwealth Games are not covered by the rule, although the loophole will be closed after the Melbourne event.

The Commonwealth Games Federation voted on the issue today and the new rule will come into force for the 2010 Games in Delhi.

GOAT_Ali

I wonder will she embarrass herself should she compete

epo addict

She got injured a day before the 5000m started so did not compete..I feel sorry for the young Australian athlete who missed out on the commonwealth games in her own country because of Sonia O Sullivan

Common Sense

Can you back up that comment, Epo. Name the Australian athlete who achieved the standard who was left out.

Pherekydes

epo addict wrote:

She got injured a day before the 5000m started so did not compete..I feel sorry for the young Australian athlete who missed out on the commonwealth games in her own country because of Sonia O Sullivan

Happens all the time. Injuries can't be foreseen. It doesn't just happen in Australia. By the way, Sonia has Australian citizenship. Finally, what common sense said...

epo addict

A young Australian girl was 3rd in the trials behind Sonia(dont know her name) but she should of been at the games instead..Last time i checked she was born in Australia and should never have been deprived of a place in the team..Thank god the loophole in which Sonia used to compete in Melbourne has been closed after the games..Its unbelievable that in 2006 such rules give athletes a chance to compete for two different countries.How would everybody feel if all these latvians,poles and russians that live here and run get citizenship and take places on the Irish running team...You run for the country you were born thats my motto...Anyway thats my gripe and my opinion which i'm entitled to!

robinph

epo addict wrote:

A young Australian girl was 3rd in the trials behind Sonia(dont know her name) but she should of been at the games instead..Last time i checked she was born in Australia and should never have been deprived of a place in the team..Thank god the loophole in which Sonia used to compete in Melbourne has been closed after the games..Its unbelievable that in 2006 such rules give athletes a chance to compete for two different countries.How would everybody feel if all these latvians,poles and russians that live here and run get citizenship and take places on the Irish running team...You run for the country you were born thats my motto...Anyway thats my gripe and my opinion which i'm entitled to!

The loophole was only there for the Commonweath games though I think and not for any other championship. Athletes change which country they run for all the time, but only after 3 years (?) of not competing for their previous country. What Sonia was trying to do though was run for two different countries within the same year.

I'm sure you wouldn't have too much of a problem though if a Pole, Latvian blah blah blah were to get their Irish citizenship and then run and win an olympic medal for Ireland. There was never any problem with footballers who may have been born elsewhere playing for the Irish team.

Pherekydes

epo addict wrote:

You run for the country you were born thats my motto...Anyway thats my gripe and my opinion which i'm entitled to!

So whaddya think of Davo Leary and Paul McGrath playing for Ireland, then?

And could John Coghlan run for Ireland?

And what about Sonia's kids? One would have to represent the UK and the other Australia!

Common Sense

epo addict wrote:

A young Australian girl was 3rd in the trials behind Sonia(dont know her name) but she should of been at the games instead..

I don't want to flog a dead horse here ... but if that athlete didn't achieve the qualifying time she wasn't deprived of a place in the team. So, I repeat my earlier question (to which, incidentally, I don't have the answer myself).

robinph

Slow coach wrote:

And what about Sonia's kids? One would have to represent the UK and the other Australia!

I forget the name of them now, but during the Rugby world cup wasn't there a pair of brothers one of which was playing for Australia and the other for Wales?

Common Sense

Common Sense wrote:

epo addict wrote:

A young Australian girl was 3rd in the trials behind Sonia(dont know her name) but she should of been at the games instead..

I don't want to flog a dead horse here ... but if that athlete didn't achieve the qualifying time she wasn't deprived of a place in the team. So, I repeat my earlier question (to which, incidentally, I don't have the answer myself).

I just did a check on the Australian Athletics web-site and 3 athletes were selected for the 5000 : Susan Jamieson; Sonia O’Sullivan (36, VIC), Eloise Wellings (23, NSW). So, I don't necessarily think that any athlete, with a qualifying standard, was deprived of a place. But again, if I'm proved wrong, I'll gladly accept this.

Pherekydes

5,000 METRES
15.16.60 Eloise Wellings
15.36.15 Victoria Mitchell
15.43.46 Kerryn McCann
15.44.24 Sonia O'Sullivan
15.45.46 Emma Rilen


The standard was 15:45, so Sonia didn't keep anyone behind her out.

Pherekydes

robinph wrote:

I forget the name of them now, but during the Rugby world cup wasn't there a pair of brothers one of which was playing for Australia and the other for Wales?

The Ellis bros? But that was by choice. In Epo's constrained universe, one would have to run for the country of their birth. But what he fails to appreciate, is that nobody chooses their place of birth.

thirtyfoot

Slow coach wrote:

So whaddya think of Davo Leary and Paul McGrath playing for Ireland, then?

Dave O' Leary or Paul McGrath didn't play for Ireland in one tournament and then for England in the next. Representing a country that you weren't born in is not a problem, but representing two countries in the same season is a joke, belittles the honour of wearing your countries vest. Hero worship can sometimes cloud your judgement, you leave aside and ignore the littles thing that you mightn't agree with in relation to the hero. For many years I admired SOS and turned a blind eye to some of the things that annoyed me, but this is too far. For me it leaves a sour taste in relation to her career, anyway we have a new hero now, Hello Derval, Goodbye Sonia!!!

Pherekydes

Tingle wrote:

Representing a country that you weren't born in is not a problem...

My point was in answer to Epo, who does have a problem with people representing countries other than their country of birth.

Tingle wrote:

but representing two countries in the same season is a joke

But she hasn't. And the CWG are not covered by IAAF rules, so even if she had, it wouldn't count.

Tingle wrote:

belittles the honour of wearing your countries vest.

Ahh, a Freudian slip...:D

thirtyfoot

Slow coach wrote:

But she hasn't. And the CWG are not covered by IAAF rules, so even if she had, it wouldn't count.

It counts to me and other Irish athletes who have worn their country's vest that I've spoken to, and I'm sure it counts to many Aussies who have worn their country's vest. I understand to some sports people wearing a country's jersey or vest means nothing and is more a flag of convenience , but to most it means something. If she wants to compete for the Aussies in a mickey mouse event, thats fine, but expecting to come back and get on the Irish team for the Europeans in the summer and possibly taking the place of an emerging Irish athlete in the process, thats where the problem is. I'd like Sonia to go away now, she is wrecking my head and that ad for Supervalu is making the pain even worse.

Clum

I feel sorry for Sonia that she couldn't run today, it was obviously something she really wanted to do, whether it was to represent her kid's country, or the country of her new home, or just to compete in an event she's never had the chance to compete in before.

I'm also selfishly happy that she didn't represent Australia because she's one of Ireland's greatest athletes and I wouldn't like to see the athletics history books being tainted with references to her as an Australian athlete.

If she was to change citizenship in the eyes of the IAAF and run for Australia full time that would be her choice and I'd respect that, but I also don't agree with being able to represent one country at one event and six month later represent another country. Sports at an international level are very different to sports at club level in that respect. It'd be a bit like Alistair Cragg running for Ireland in the European Cross Country and then running for South Afirca in the African Cross Country all in the same season...not that thats happened or will happen.

back to form

At first I was all for Sonia Running for Australia.Think about it,her husband is from Australia and how good would it be to see her kids watch her run in fron of a large Ozzy crowd.What a proud moment for her and a final goodbye.

My opinion started to change in the week leading up to the championships.
Nic Bideau her husband can pull alot of string in athletics Australia.
We think of rep O f ireland and how our soccer team especially in the Jack Charlton era was based with players born in England or Scotland and playing for ireland with their heart and soul.Big point is that they played For Rep O f ireland and once playing for us showed passion and didn't want to suddenly wait for an English or Scottish call up and change allegiance.

On the Subject which common sense brings up 3 times i think about epo addict saying an australian girl was left out and prove it well I will.
her name is sarah jamieson(15.29.88)
Sonia wanted to just change back to an Irish vest(european Championships) after running for Australia in the Commonwealths.She has ben an amazing athlete and I or not many peopl would have begruged her the chance to do the commonweaalths as her final major Championships but she is taking the pi## big style.
common sense dont be so quick to attack people on this board.everyone has an opinion and thats what a message board is about.

back to form

Sarah actually competed after her silver in the 1500m so it was Victoria Mitchell who didnt get to run (15.35.15 this year)

Pherekydes

back to form wrote:

Sarah actually competed after her silver in the 1500m so it was Victoria Mitchell who didnt get to run (15.35.15 this year)

Mitchell ran the Steeple. Finished 4th.

Common Sense

back to form wrote:

common sense dont be so quick to attack people on this board.everyone has an opinion and thats what a message board is about.

Back to Form, you totally misread my comments. I GENUINELY wanted to know if Sonia was depriving a young Aussie of her place. I didn't know and I said that. I had no problem with Sonia competing for Australia but might have formed a different view if EPO Addict's was correct - that's why I wanted to find out. Slow Coach eventually resolved the matter. All of the athletes who achieved the standard were accommodated, presumably, in events of their choosing, such as Kerryn McCann in the marathon (which she won) or Victoria Mitchell in the Steeplechase. As for attacking people, I have never 'attacked' anyone on this or any other board - and I contribute to a few. I think, in fairness, in the light of the above if you read my comments again you will appreciate that they were in no way intended as an attack on anyone.