2008 Beijing Olympics:

How they fared...

The greatest sporting event of the world would have come to a conclusion by the time you read this. The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games has been quite exciting and eventful since its astounding opening ceremony.

Michael Phelps

The Sri Lankan contingent for the event comprised eight sportstars, but unfortunately, none of them were successful in winning any medals in any of the events they participated.

The Sri Lankan team comprised Susanthika Jayasinghe (200m), Daniel Lee (swimming), Mayumi Raheem (swimming), Edirisinghe Senanayake (shooting) Chintana Vidanagama (weight lifting), Anuruddha Rathnayake (boxing), Nadeeka Lakmalee (javelin throw) and Thilini Jayasinghe (badminton).

The 2008 Olympics undoubtedly would have become a great experience for them even though they could not realise their dreams by being among the winners.

The prime sports star to obtain a medal was Susanthika Jayasinghe, but unfortunately she dropped from the semi-finals of the Women’s 200m, being the 7th. However, in the previous two rounds she obtained 2nd and 3rd places respectively. Our hopes and expectations were high, but she didn’t make it...

Daniel Lee took part in the Men’s 50m Freestyle heat 6 and turned up the 5th whereas Mayumi Raheem turned up the 4th in the 2nd heat of the Women’s 100m breaststroke.

Edirisinghe Senanayake reportedly had a problem with the air pistol and thus could retain 48th and 36th positions in the qualifying rounds of 10m air pistol and 50m pistol. Chinthana Vidanagama who has created hype as a great weigh-lifter of the country competed in the Men’s 69kg Group C competition, and became the 1st in that category although he couldn’t enter to Group A or B to compete for medals.

Our boxing champ, Anuruddha Rathnayake was expected to punch down his opponents, but the Brazilian in the first boxing match in the Flyweight category was no match for him and thus he got pulled out of the Olympics as well.

Nadeeka Lakmali ended up being the 23rd in the Women’s javelin throw in the qualifying round in Group A. Thilini Jayasinghe competed against the Chinese player Le Ngoc Nguyen in badminton singles, but unfortunately lost 2-0.

But we can certainly be proud of the fact that we had eight sports stars competing in the world’s greatest sporting event. It isn’t easy to even qualify to participate in the Olympics, so let’s salute them for their effort. Meanwhile, let’s look at some of the victories and defeats...

The American swimming ace, Michael Phelps made the 2008 Olympics a memorable one not only for himself, but also for his country by beating the record held by Mark Spitz for the highest number of Olympic Gold Medals. Phelps won 8 Gold Medals compared to 7 won by Spitz in the 1972 Munich Olympics.

The most spectacular 100m dash ever could be seen when the Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt won the Men’s 100m Gold Medal, shattering his own world record with a new time of 9.69 seconds.

It could be seen how casually he ran the last 15-20 metres and his timing would have been even better if he ran with his fullest potential and a better start. In addition, he went ballistic in the 200m finals by being the 1st with a staggering lead and also setting a new World Record of 19.30 seconds.

Liu Xiang

Being new to the 100m arena from the 200m circuit a few months back, Usain Bolt has really turned out to be a legend on the tracks and is expected to be the next Carl Lewis conquering the 100m and 200m events.

It was rather unfortunate for China when Liu Xiang - the previous 110m hurdles world record holder and Gold Medallist of the last Olympics for the event - had to leave the tracks due to an injury even before the race.

He was the only track and field superstar of China for his extreme performance in his event and as the first Chinese athlete to achieve the ‘Triple Crown’ of athletics (World Record Holder, World Champion and Olympic Champion). His sudden departure due to the unbearable pain caused thousands of his fans to leave the ‘Birds Nest’ within a few minutes. However, Liu Xiang is expecting to rise again.

Natalie Du Toit from South Africa turned out to become an inspiring sportswoman during the Olympics. She took part in the Women’s 10km Swimming Marathon and ended up being the 16th. However, the most inspiring thing about her is her undying passion for the sport despite a disability of hers.

She had met with an accident when she was dreaming to compete in the Olympics a few years back which resulted in her leg being amputated from the left knee. However, she fought her disability and came forward to take part in the greatest sporting event with the able-bodied; she didn’t even use her prosthetic limb while swimming.

- Aravinda Dassanayake