Sri Lankan Olympic Torch Bearer Dilshan Senanayake's Day
DAY
TO REMEMBER: What a thrill it will be for former Trinitian and Rugby
Lion Dilshan Senanayake as he partakes in the Olympic Torch bearing
Relay as a Torch bearer, running a 300 metre stretch in the Huntingdon
precincts near Cambridge, London. His turn is today. He is one of three
Sri Lankans to have been picked to carry the torch. They were selected
from among over 150,000 nominees over a 12-month period with proven
track records and accomplishments.
Dilshan, attached to John Lewis Finance was nominated for his role as
a Coaching Champion and Mentor for John Lewis's Partners in sport
program (in association with Sports Coach UK). Through this program over
500 individuals have gone onto achieve coaching qualifications in a
sport of their choice and are presently engaged in volunteer coaching in
their communities.
Further, in association with national sports store 'Up and Running'
Dilshan is working on an initiative to source old surplus running
clothing to be shipped and distributed to junior athletes in rural
schools in Sri Lanka.
Dilshan is presently attached to the London Olympic and Paralympics
Organizing Committee (on a 6 month secondment from John Lewis). As
member of the Village Management's Support Operations team at the main
games village in Stratford, his team is responsible for all operational
phases that involve general village sites and facility management and
provision of logistical support for all village stakeholders, primarily
the athletes.
Emotional connection
For Dilshan however, the London Olympics has a deeper and emotional
connection. It was in the 1948 London Games that Sri Lanka won its first
ever Olympic medal when Duncan White was judged the second fastest
hurdler (400 metres) in the world.
It was Duncan who decorated Dilshan with the Rugby Lion when Duncan,
an Old Trinitian himself, visited the school in 1987-the year in which
the Trinity Rugby XV was the unbeaten school champions.
Dilshan later briefly played for Kandy Sports Club and Havelocks
before leaving for the US. In the US he played and coached University
rugby before leaving a rugby legacy of sports by being a founder member
of the TCK/STC Washington DC Rugby 7s. Rugby remains Dilshan's passion
to this day and since has played local club rugby in UK while also
serving as a Level 1 rugby coach and a level 2 Referee.
Carrying the Olympic Flame is steeped in tradition. This year the
Torch was first lit in the Games spiritual home of ancient Olympia and
from there began its long journey -- from Greece to London. It is the
Flame that gets passed on not the torch itself. Ancient rituals say the
Olympic Flame can only be lit by the sun's own rays - and so in a grand
ceremony this year an actress played the part of the high priestess - in
front of the ruins of the Temple of Hera in Greece, the birth place of
the Ancient Game. Its here that Ino Menegaki a glamorous and strikingly
beautiful actress played the role of High Priestess and lit the Flame by
the rays of the sun in a parabolic mirror. It was then placed in an urn
before the high priestess and priestesses carried the Flame to the
stadium.
Spyros Giannioti - first Torch bearer
The first torch bearer for this Olympics was Spyros Giannioti,
Greece's England-born world champion 10 k swimming champion. The Flame
was then carried in a relay around the Greek mainland and Islands; and
from Ancient Olympia to the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, where the
first modern Olympics were held in 1896. And this is where the official
handover to London took place on May 17.
Princess Anne and David Beckham who attended the ceremony returned to
London in a specially chartered plane called the Firefly - they then
carried the Torch on to UK soil - they sat three rows apart while the
Torch was secured and had its own seat.
Olympic gold medallist Ben Ainslie was the first Torch bearer to
carry the Olympic Flame in the UK. Ben, who won gold medals in Sailing
at the Beijing 2008, Athens 2004 and Sydney 2000 Games started the
70-day Relay on 19 May.
Fascinating incidents
There have been some fascinating incidents during the relay's 8,000
mile trek in the UK.
One Olympic Torch bearer stopped to 'pop the question' - and proposed
to his girlfriend - on bended knee-in the middle of his relay as he
carried the Torch through the streets of Northern London. He handed the
Torch to a nearby security official while he proposed. She accepted and
the Olympic ring and Torch was overshadowed by a diamond ring. They
hugged and kissed - and then he took the Torch back and continued his
run. The banner headline read : With this Olympic ring, I thee wed?!
Swifter, higher, stronger, braver-read another headline as Britian's
most wounded soldier carried the Olympic Torch -- he walked with his
prosthetic legs. Ben Parkinson - 27 years old - is Britian's most
wounded soldier to survive his injuries-lost both his limbs, broke his
back, hips and ribs and suffered brain damage in Afganistan in 2006. He
defied the odds with every step of his epic 300 meters journey - walking
behind him were 50 members of his regiment. Displaying characteristic
humility of a soldier he said in an interview : it was nothing-just
another walk!
Olympic Torch fetches 153,000
And money plays its part as well. As explained earlier it's the Flame
that gets passed on and not the Torch... but one Olympic Torch was sold
one day for 153,100 UK Pound Sterling (Rs. 30 million) just one day
after the first leg of the relay-it was listed by Sarah Milner Simonds
of Burnham-on-Sea as 'used in the torch relay'. She plans using the
money for community gardening project - The People's Plot. There is a
question, however, at this time of writing as to whether she had
received the money. However another Torch went for 10,600 pounds (Rs.
2.1 million) and yet another was listed at a starting bid of 100,000
pounds (Rs.20 million).
A Torch costs 494 pounds ( Rs. 98,000) to make and is sold to the
Torch bearers at 215 pounds (Rs. 43,000). It does not take a genius to
calculate the profits made!!
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