Well-wishers have been flocking to Sonia O'Sullivan's family home in Cobh, Co Cork, to congratulate her parents, John and Mary, on the birth of the athlete's first baby, a girl who weighed in at 8 lb 3 oz. She will be named Ciara.
There was jubilation at the news in Cobh, where Sonia has become a local folk heroine and easily its greatest sporting ambassador since Jack Doyle, the boxer, singer and bon viveur, made a mark on the international scene.
Since news of the birth in a London hospital at the weekend became public, neighbours have come in droves to congratulate Sonia's parents on the birth of their granddaughter. Many messages of goodwill have arrived from further afield as well to mark the occasion of the athlete's first baby.
Her mother, Mrs Mary O'Sullivan, said she was overjoyed. Both mother and baby were doing well, she added, but was reluctant to say if the new arrival had running in her genes. "You'd never know, she might become a classical pianist," she said.
Local people said they were hoping Sonia would return to Cobh before the end of the summer to spend some time there with her new baby.