It is only fitting that one of Ireland’s greatest living athletes should have her very own life-sized bronze sculpture in her native Cobh, and I’m proud to have been the one to make it. The statue stands in Casement Square in the centre of Cobh. It’s great to see it there on pleasant summer days, with 20 or 30 people surrounding it and snapping photos that get shared all around the world. 

The Concept 

The commission was organised by Cobh Tourism and funded by the local community through fundraisers including Strictly Cobh Dancing and Rebecca O’Connor’s Tina Turner, Simply The Best concert, along with over two dozen individual contributors. I was awarded the commission through public tender. 

Cobh Tourism wanted the statue to be immediately recognisable, with Sonia captured at an iconic moment crossing the finish line, looking out proudly at the crowd. We had originally considered including a flag, but it simply didn’t work sculpturally in that pose, so we left it out. I’m proud of how the pose came together. It was kind of a famous pose, where she’s crossing the line, looking at the crowd, and I think it reflects her well. 

What mattered most to me was that she was happy with it too, because she’s a local, and she’s told me she is. This piece was always a piece for Cobh. 

Process and Materials 

The statue was first carved in plaster, which was then used to take a mould that is used for casting in the final bronze. I worked with a foundry in Mayo to pour the bronze and assemble the pieces, before finishing the statue with a deep brown patina. 

Likeness and Reference 

Sonia came into my studio for two days so I could take measurements, things like face proportions, hips, facial distances. It’s an awful lot easier to do a portrait if you have access to the person there, and since she lives in Australia, that wasn’t something I could take for granted. I also referenced hundreds of photographs to get the pose and proportions just right, but she simply had to be here in Ireland before I could begin working in earnest. 

Craft and Difficulty 

It was a difficult sculpture, without a shadow of a doubt. Because the concept called for an athletic figure in motion with full visible anatomy, all the muscles, the knee movements, everything simply had to be shown vividly, and it all had to be right. The most challenging part was capturing that movement, particularly the knees and her signature back leg kicking off, because she is famous for her kick. You get the weight coming down on the front leg and the back leg kicking off behind her. Getting that right took real work. 

Timeline 

From start to unveiling the statue took about a year in total. The first six months were spent working nonstop in the workshop on the plaster sculpture and mould, which was the most challenging phase. The latter months were given over to casting, foundry work, and finishing. 

The final stretch was intense. In the last month I was working 16 to 17 hour days for nearly three weeks straight to meet the deadline. We got it done just in time! When it was unveiled on a rainy Sunday, 20 September 2015, to a really excited crowd who had come out to see both the statue and Sonia herself, the relief made it all worthwhile. 

A Community Undertaking 

This piece was truly a community undertaking, and it was fully community-funded and community-led. Everybody came together on this. It wasn’t just me, and I’m proud of that. 

My sincere thanks to Cobh Tourism for organising and commissioning the statue, to all the fundraisers and contributors, and to the community of Cobh itself. 

For commissions or enquiries, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.