The fairy tale is complete and Sonia O'Sullivan is back among track and field's most charismatic personalities after another captivating win in the European 5,000 metres championship in Budapest yesterday.
The final journey on the road to rehabilitation was completed in 15 minutes 6.50 seconds, long enough to see off the feared challenge of the favourite, Gabriela Szabo of Romania, and become the first woman to complete the 5,000 and 10,000 metres double in a major championship.
O'Sullivan, seldom given to excesses of emotion, fought back tears of joy as the tricolour was run up the flag pole in the Nepstadion and for the second time in four days the strains of Amhran na bhFiann filled the arena.
It was by any standard an emotional scene, the more so as we recalled tears of a different kind after her world collapsed in the Olympic Games two years ago.
Now the good times were rolling once more and O'Sullivan, with four major titles to her credit this year, is again a name to excite and intimidate on the international circuit. The president, Mrs MacAleese, and the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, were among those who immediately congratulated her.