In both cases the only athletes to finish ahead of her were Chinese runners who all trained under the same coach - Ma Junren.

Junren’s athletes, who were known as Ma’s Army, won every women’s gold medal from 1500m to 10,000m at the Championships in Stuttgart.

Now Chinese media outlets are reporting that one of the athletes Wang Junxia wrote a letter suggesting athletes were made to dope while being trained by Junren.

Wang Junxia and Co sign letter saying My Juhnren forced them to dope. Turtle soup indeed. Did Sonia O'Sullivan out of so much #IAAF

— Daragh Ó Conchúir (@RebelDevil71) February 5, 2016

Ciarán Ó Catháin, president of Athletics Ireland said the governing body would be seeking more information on the issue. “We will be seeking clarification from the IAAF who are in the process of verifying the letter by Wang Junxia,” Ó Catháin told sportswomen.ie.

“There are two gold medals at stake for Sonia O’Sullivan and we hope this can be resolved to finally bring an end to the uncertainty which has hung over the Championships for so long.”

The claims are contained in a letter allegedly written in 1995 by Wang and nine team-mates coached by the controversial Junren, but has only just come to light.

The legitimacy of Wang’s world records, set in the space of six days in Beijing in 1993, has long been questioned. Her 10,000m record of 29 minutes 31.78 seconds knocked 42 seconds off the old record and is still 22 seconds faster than any other woman has run.

The letter, sent to a journalist named as Zhao Yu, reportedly revealed that Ma’s athletes were forced to dope and, when they started to throw away the illegal drugs over fears for their health, they were injected personally.

“We are humans, not animals,” the alleged letter’s authors wrote.

“For many years, (he) forced us to take a large dose of illegal drugs. It was true.”

The IAAF confirmed it was looking into the letter and said any athlete proved to have admitted to doping before achieving a world record could be stripped of the title.

It said in a statement: “The IAAF’s first action must be to verify that the letter is genuine. In this respect, the IAAF has asked the Chinese Athletics Association to assist it in that process. In any case, IAAF Competition Rule 263.3 (e) note (ii) clearly states that if anyone makes an admission of guilt, the IAAF can take action:

“If an athlete has admitted that, at some time prior to achieving a world record, he had used or taken advantage of a substance or technique prohibited at that time, then, subject to the advice of the medical and anti-doping commission, such record will not continue to be regarded as a world record by the IAAF.”

Up Next: Sonia O'Sullivan joins Anton to talk about the possibility of getting the 2 golds she earned in 1993. pic.twitter.com/JXcynFFm88

— Today FM 💛 (@TodayFM) February 5, 2016

Speaking on Irish radio this afternoon, O'Sullivan said she would be more interested in the record than the medals - she would have been the world record holder for the following eight years.

“Two medals in a package will not make any difference to me,” she told Today FM's Anton Savage.

“Knowing that something you questioned was right... that will give me a lot of satisfaction, just to know that more than anything else.”