Sophie O’Sullivan: ‘It feels pretty good to join my mother as an Olympian’

Ireland’s Sophie O’Sullivan says it “feels pretty good” to join her mother Sonia as an Olympian.

Sophie, 22, made her debut at the Games in the heats of the 1500 metres and narrowly missed out on an automatic place in the semi-finals.

Her mum was a silver medallist in the 5,000 metres at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

“I saw that there had been only maybe three mother/daughter Olympians, so that’s been fun,” Sophie told BBC Sport NI after her heat.

“It feels pretty good. She is here with me and it’s great to have her here.”

On her Olympic debut, O’Sullivan put in a strong showing at the Stade de France and set a personal best to qualify for the repechage on Wednesday morning.

She believes she could have broken into the top six if not for a collision with Japan’s Nozomi Tanaka with 150m remaining.

“Immediately, I’m a little bit disappointed as it’s right there,” she said.

“I really thought I had it but maybe that is the problem. When you think you have it you can get too excited.

“I didn’t think it was very fast at all, which I guess is a good sign. I feel better than that.

“I got a big caught up and tripped at the last bend. That slowed me down and I can come back tomorrow and have a good crack at it.”