World Champion Sonia O’Sullivan has opened up on the toll athletics took on her body, revealing how yoga and pilates help keep her in balance.

Her Olympic silver medal in 2000 capped a string of successes for the star including three World Championship medals, three European Championship medals and four world records.

Cobh legend Sonia, 53, told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “When you’re training really hard, that’s all you’re focused on.

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“You don’t really think about the consequences later on or what that might lead to. There’s definitely wear and tear on your body.

“As you get older you just have to learn how to manage that. You always want to keep active and do as much as you can for as long as you can.

“But you have to adapt all the time, and do what gives you enough satisfaction in your day.

“I think that’s where things like yoga and pilates creep in, what you would once thought of as being very slow and gentle activities.

“You realise that they’re actually pretty beneficial.”

At the pinnacle of her track career Sonia bagged a gold medal at the 1995 World Championships and a silver medal at the 2000 Olympic Games for the 5000 metres.

Her first major international competition was in the 1990 European Championships at Split in Croatia.

She retired from the sport in 2007 – insisting she now has no regrets over missing out on Olympic gold at the Sydney Olympics where she took silver.

Sonia said: “At this stage no... sometimes if I’m at an event and people replay it [the race] again, you’re kind of surprised at how close it was every time.

“I do sometimes think if I was to run the race again, I’d probably get a different result. When you run these races, you have to make these split second decisions.

“And once you make a decision, there’s no going back.”

She insisted she gave it her all, adding: “In some ways, I think I probably went a little bit early in that race.

“I think at the end of the day, you have to accept the result that you get. I would rather be second than fourth. I gave it everything I had at the time. I always felt when I crossed the finish line, I had to think about it for a few seconds and you appreciate what you have achieved as much as you’re disappointed not to have won.

“You’re happy that you’ve actually got a medal to bring home.”

She met her track and field coach hubby Nic Bideau in 1996 and they have two daughters, Ciara and Sophie.

As assistant coach at Union Athletics Club in Portland, Oregon, Sonia divides her time between the States, Melbourne and Ireland.

Of moving between countries she said: “It’s definitely a transition period every time and you question yourself. Then you fall back into your nice routine and you enjoy it again.

“It’s really weird because the only place that doesn’t seem to happen for me is when I go to Ireland. I slip back in seamlessly as soon as that plane touches down. It’s a weird feeling.”

Daughter Sophie, 23, is following in her mum’s footsteps winning gold in the 1500m at the U23 European Athletic Championships in Espoo, Finland in July.

Proud mum Sonia said: “She surprised us all this summer, I’ve always encouraged her to go through all the different stepping stones through the different age groups.

“By running there to then qualify for the World Championships was really exciting. She came very close to getting to the next round, but in the process qualified for the Olympics next year.

“As much as I coach other athletes, I think the way I would react with Sophie would be a lot different because you’re a lot more emotionally involved in what she’s doing.”

Sonia recalled how running was one of the few sporting options for girls when she was younger.

She added: “When I was growing up running was the only thing for us, now there are so many opportunities for girls and they push each other to be great, they’re the stars of tomorrow and the Olympians.”

After competing on Masterchef Ireland in 2017 Sonia admitted she was “a little bit too confident”.

She said: “Sometimes you kind of think that you’re good at cooking, but you know it may taste good, but it might not look so good. I needed to work on my plating up.” Despite being asked several times to compete on Dancing With The Stars she has repeatedly declined.

Sonia laughed: “I have been asked many times but it’s definitely way outside my comfort zone.”

Now she’s embracing her new role as a coach on RTE’s Ireland’s Fittest Families and hails the mothers as the strongest link.

She said: “The strongest people out there were mothers. They were the ones who were doing everything for their families to get the result that they could.

“They don’t want to let the kids down, sometimes the mother’s feel like they’re the weakest link but they end up being the strongest.”

She revealed coach Donncha O’Callaghan can be sneaky on set.

She said: “I saw Donncha taking notes and jotting down all these things about his families, I’m trying to work out what the hell’s he doing?

“You know there’s little secrets on set and things that I don’t know and they’re taken advantage of, and they’re not telling me.”

Despite her accolades, fellow coaches Donncha, Davy Fitzgerald and Nina Carberry are not threatened by her. She added: “They weren’t in awe of me, I said to Davy look I’m not running, I’m just standing on the sidelines with you.”

• Ireland’s Fittest Families continues on Sundays on RTE One at 6.30pm.

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