Accomplished athletes reflect on 100 years of Sri Lanka Athletics
This year marks a consequential year in the calendar and history of Sri Lankan Athletics. The track and field sport turned 100-years-old in January, 2022. To mark and celebrate the milestone, the Sunday Times spoke to some medal winning athletes and Olympians, having entered and engraved their names in the history books, locally and globally.
One of only two proudest products of the country as Olympic medallions Susanthika Jayasinghe, said she is proud about herself when looking back at the history.
SLA conducted a Half Marathon to kickstart its Centinary Celebreations
“I can recall only around 30 years. I don’t remember the childhood memories and chapters. When I look back at the history, as a woman to have won a medal, I am ecstatic and proud of myself,” the silver medallist in the 2000 Sydney Olympics said.
“Most of our wins originate from the Asian Games. Our wins in the Olympic arena is only an iota. Institutions celebrating events is good but I would also like to ask, why couldn’t we win any more medals,” Jayasinghe quipped.
Only Duncan White and Susanthika Jayasinghe etched their names in the history books, while a few others were able to come out with impressive performances despite not winning an Olympic medal. Jayasinghe was, however, not entirely happy about the progress of the sport.
“With my understanding of the game, I’m not entirely happy about it. During this centenary period, what kind of achievements have we recorded? We have only a handful of wins from the Commonwealth Games (CWG). In the global stage, we have won only in bits and pieces.”
She urged that the officials, having the onus of running the sport, should work responsibly valuing the game. Jayasinghe also questioned what designations are those Asian and CWG winners have been bestowed with.
“Where are the experts, after having excelled at the sport?”
She couldn’t even estimate how long it would take for the country’s third medal in the Olympic Games. However, a former president of Sri Lanka Athletic Association (SLAA), Sunil Gunawardena sounded content and proud about the history.
“We have won only two medals in the Olympic stage and both those have come from athletics. In Asian Games, we have 10 golds from athletics and one gold in cricket. Apart from that, all our wins are from athletics only. Hence there is a history, we can brag about and we also have the present to the next generation, who will continue the baton,” Gunawardena, also an Olympian at the 1972 Munich Games, said.
Gunawardena was also confident about the nation being armed with ample talent, to carry forward the baton.
“An Olympic medal does not come easily. Even in the Asian arena, after a drought of 20 years only the likes of Damayanthi Darsha and Susanthika Jayasinghe won. Since then, we haven’t won a single medal in Asian Games. But we have plenty of skilled athletes capable of winning medals,” he explained.
Thilaka Jinadasa, the first female Olympian from Sri Lanka to compete in athletics, remarked that there is improvement unlike their days.
“We were doing athletics in the late 1980s to early 1990s. That time compared with nowadays, athletes have been well looked after. They have got a lot of sponsors and opportunities. The competition during our days were either SAARC or Asian Championships. But nowadays, athletes are getting a lot of opportunities because of that I think, we’ve seen a lot of improvement in athletes.”
“If you look at the numbers, it may not be that way. But athletes are coming up nicely with good performances. That’s the achievement for us in 100 years,” Jinadasa, also a former netball player and a coach, added.
Dr. Nagalingam Ethirveerasingham, yet another Olympian at the 1952 and 1956 Games, said his country is lagging behind in terms of infrastructure.
“While the rest of the world improved the surface of competition and other technological advances, Sri Lanka was only able to establish two synthetic tracks in Colombo and Western Province. The rest of the country continued with grass tracks. Athletics in schools did not improve much in the other eight provinces. Club and District athletics outside the Western Province improvement was at snail pace especially in the North and East,” he said, while laying out the modus operandi on the future of the sport.
“In the SLAA recent elections, many Vice Presidents were elected. There were, however, no Tamil or Muslim Vice Presidents. The majority of members were Sinhalese and they voted for their own ethnic community. SLAA constitution needs to be changed to ensure that there are minority communities represent in the National body. A synthetic track needs to be built in each province. In the USA (as he is based in the USA), all High Schools have a synthetic track. Sri Lanka cannot afford that.”
“To achieve in any sport, children should start participating when they are like eight or nine years. School athletics should be funded by Ministry of Education (MoE) and SLAA. Trained coaches should be appointed to all schools by the MoE,” the Asian Games record holder in high jumping, asserted.
“Between Duncan (White’s) silver in 1948 and Susanthika’s silver in 2000, there is a gap of 52 years. We should not wait another 30 years. We should identify the talents of nine-year-old athletes and nurture them by providing quality education and provide quality coaches to train them. I also like to see that student sportsperson should maintain a Credit pass average in each of the Term to represent their school in any sports. They can do it. This is a rule that exists in schools and universities in the USA,” Dr. Ethirveerasingham concluded.