Gillian O'Sullivan (born 21 August 1976 in Killarney) is an Irish race walker. She set the unofficial world record in the 5000m walk in Belfast, United Kingdom since 2002 however, the IAAF have refused to verify it. She won a silver medal at the world championship in 2003 over 20km. It was the first time since 1995 that an Irish athlete had won a World Championship medal. Six years later in Berlin at the World Championships Olive Loughnane won silver at the same event as O'Sullivan.

O'Sullivan was also the first Irish athlete to win a medal in the walk at an Athletics Championship. O'Sullivan was one of the main contenders for Ireland to win a medal in the Olympics in Athens in 2004 in the 20 km walk but suffered an injury just before the games that prevented her from taking part. O'Sullivan retired on 19 April 2007 after years of injuries.

She now works as a personal trainer and runs a series of health, fitness and motivation talks in Cork.

Achievements

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Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
Representing   Ireland
1994 World Junior Championships Lisbon, Portugal 22nd 5000m 24:19.38
1997 European U23 Championships Turku, Finland 9th 10 km 50:19
1998 European Championships Budapest, Hungary 23rd 10 km 48:24
1999 World Race Walking Cup Mézidon-Canon, France 72nd 20 km 1:42:20
World Championships Seville, Spain 32nd 20 km 1:40:33
2000 European Race Walking Cup Eisenhüttenstadt, Germany 14th 20 km 1:31:31
Olympic Games Sydney, Australia 10th 20 km 1:33:10
2001 European Race Walking Cup Dudince, Slovakia 9th 20 km 1:31:13
World Championships Edmonton, Canada 20 km DSQ
2002 European Championships Munich, Germany 4th 20 km 1:28:46
2003 World Championships Paris, France 2nd 20 km 1:27:34
2004 World Race Walking Cup Naumburg, Germany 8th 20 km 1:28:01

She attended Lissivigeen N.S

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  • http://www.gillianosullivan.ie
  • Gillian O'Sullivan at World Athletics  
  • http://www.athleticsireland.ie/content/?p=1434#more-1434
  • Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Gillian O'Sullivan". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 29 March 2009.