Goodbye Susan!

Mana Annalage Susanthika Jayasinghe, the most successful and the most controversial athlete that Sri Lanka has ever produced, decided to hang her spikes last week, ending her 15-year-old distinguished career as the country’s undisputed sprint queen.

Jayasinghe officially announced her retirement from athletics after a meeting with President Mahinda Rajapaksa at Temple Trees last Thursday. Incidentally, it was President Rajapaksa who was the President of Athletic Association of Sri Lanka (AASL) when Jayasinghe won Sri Lanka’s maiden World Championship medal in 1997.

Jayasinghe said that the sports-loving President was a tower of strength during her athletic career and thanked him for all the encouragement, support and assistance he has given as an athletic official, Minister, Prime Minister and President.

Jayasinghe would always be grateful to President Rajapaksa for his key role he played to get the sprint queen exonerated when she was tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. With scientific and other related proof, Jayasinghe was later cleared by the IAAF on two occasions in 1995 and in 1997.

Rare Honour

During my 23-year-career as a media personality, I had the rare honour of following Jayasinghe’s entire athletic career and was also fortunate to witness that historic moment when she guided Sri Lanka to its first Olympic medal in 52 years.

With me in the media enclosure of the Sydney Olympic Stadium nine years ago were Asoka Goonetillake, Bandula Molligoda and Kelum Srimal from Sri Lanka and we could not believe our eyes when the giant electronic screen had Jayasinghe as third with a career best timing of 22.28.

Undoubtedly, the 33-year-old sprint queen, who is expecting her first baby mid this year, is the most successful athlete that Sri Lanka has ever produced. She entered the international arena with Girls 100m and 200m gold medals at the Junior Asian Track & Field Championships in Indonesia way back in 1993.

In the same year, she bagged a medal at the Dhaka South Asian Games but her performance was overshadowed by compatriot Damayanthi Darsha, who retained her sprint crown.

It was in 1994 that Jayasinghe stole the limelight at Asian level. She stepped into the big league with women’s 200m silver while Darsha bagged the bronze at the Asian Games in Hiroshima, Japan. She bagged her first gold medal at Asian level when she came first in women’s 200m at the Asian Athletic Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia in 1995.

First Ever Medal

Jayasinghe won Sri Lanka’s first ever medal in the IAAF World Championship history - a silver, finishing second to Zahana Pintusevich of Ukraine in Athens 1997. That was an eye-opener for the local politicians, officials as well as sponsors.

It was this great feat by Jayasinghe which inspired the then officials to form a national Olympic pool. At the end it paid rich dividends as Sri Lanka went on to produce medalists in the Asian Games, World Cup and Olympics in the next four years.

Darsha won women’s 200m and 400m gold medals at Asian Games in Bangkok, 1998 while Darsha and Sugath Tillakaratne won women’s and men’s 400m gold medals at the Asian Championships in Fukuoka. What Sri Lanka athletics needs at this juncture is the identical approach with 100% backing from the officials for athletes to sharpen their skills.

Jayasinghe’s illustrious career is a solid example of courage and determination. If not for her tremendous courage, willpower, determination and grit, Sri Lanka would never have produced an Olympic medallist after the late Duncan White’s feat at 1948 London Games.

Born Talent

But Jayasinghe not only had the born talent to shine as a sprint merchant but also had a strong mind to face all the ups and downs of her career. The celebrated Lankan woman sprinter from Warakapola, went on to win a bronze medal in women’s 100m at the IAAF World Cup and also won the women’s 100m gold at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea. She also won women’s 100m and 200m gold medals at the 2007 Asian Championships in Jordan.

I also had the privilege of witnessing Jayasinghe winning the last medal of her illustrious international career. When I was interviewing Jayasinghe in the mixed zone immediately after she won the women’s 200m bronze at the IAAF World Championships in Osaka, it was an overjoyed President Rajapaksa who came on my roaming mobile to greet Jayasinghe. “Mage Budu Sir, mama dinna Sir (My dear Sir, I won it!)” Jayasinghe screamed to share her joy with the President.

Jayasinghe’s retirement creates a big vacuum in local athletics and it will be hard to find another Susanthika in near future. We may not find anyone emulating her feats soon. Ever since the retirements of Sriyani Kulawansa, Damayanthi Darsha and Sugath Tillakaratne, we have not found anyone who run anywhere near their record timings. It will be the same with Jayasinghe’s case and the woman sprinters we have today could not come even closer to Jayasinghe’s lightning speeds.

Rural Level

How are we going to overcome this challenge? It is not easy and we will have to go back to the basics and have a talent search at rural level. There is enough and more talent in the provinces but there are no short cuts to success.

All what the officials could do is to spot that rural talent early and groom them carefully for the future. There are no instant methods of producing Olympic medallists. It is the hard work and dedication that would create an Olympic champion. Hence, we must make an investment for the future and groom our future champions in a systematic manner.

We wish Susan, as she was affectionally called by her American coach Tony Campbell, all success in her future endeavours. Susanthika, you have made Mother Lanka proud. Thanks a million for that great contribution to take Sri Lanka athletics to the world.