special to Irish Runner.com by Eoghan Young-Murphy

Watching Sonia O'Sullivan trudge behind in races nowadays, it is easy to forget she was for some time indisputably the best distance runner in the world. No Irish athlete was ever so clearly the nonpareil in her event as the Cobh woman was in 1994 and 1995.

However, for some time now, O'Sullivan has been not even a world-class athlete of any description. In the past two major championships in which she has competed - the Athens Olympics and World Championships in Paris in 2003 - she has propped up the field.

This past season has seen her fall even further still from the position she once held. A track season that was supposed to see her return to the higher echelons of global distance running never got going. Her sixth place finish, and third Irish woman, in the Cork City Sports 3,000m was symptomatic of it.

She then strongly hinted her career in Major Championships on the track had reached its conclusion. Thank God, we all sighed. Yet she then laid out plans for a career in marathon running - a distance, as her three appearances hitherto suggest, she has not yet show ability or aptitude for.

O'Sullivan's plans to run the New York marathon were called off, but, over the past month, she has tried her hand at some road races - and has received a bum deal. Her clocking of 56:51 minutes for twelfth in the Great South Run 10 mile race on Sunday, in a race won by Derartu Tulu 51:27, was surely the nadir. But not the denouement, you suspect. Perhaps it's the lure of appearance money?

The harrowing thing about watching a great sportsperson in decline is that their earlier achievements tend to be forgotten. It's easy to forget that Sonia's exploits have inspired innumerable budding stars to achieve their potential, how a seismic impact can be made on a world stage without the use of drugs.

The girl is a legend - the greatest sportswoman Ireland has ever produced - but surely it may be time to throw in the towel.