Before dreaming of any Olympic medals:

Target 50 South Asian Games gold medals - NOC Secretary General

By Dinesh WEERAWANSA

SOUTH ASIAN GAMES: Sri Lanka must first target at winning 50 gold medals at South Asian Games before dreaming of any Olympic medals, Secretary General of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Sri Lanka Maxwell de Silva said yesterday.

In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Observer on his return from London with the Sri Lanka contingent, De Silva said that South Asian Games should be the stepping stone for the country to dream for another Olympic medal.

“We should aim the top step by step. Right now, Olympic medal may look a gigantic task. Hence, we must plan our way how to march towards that goal step by step. We should start that journey from South Asian level,” De Silva said.

The Secretary General of the NOC said that Sri Lanka must first better its South Asian Games medal records and then aim at Asian Games medals. “If we can win about 50 gold medals at South Asian Games, then we could target gold medals at Asian Games and thereafter Commonwealth Games. Once we reach there, we could aim at Olympic medals,” he explained.

Participation is a great acheivement

Asked why Sri Lanka sent a contingent to London if they don’t have medal prospects, NOC Secretary General said it is not the winning or losing that matters at Olympic Games. “It’s not the winning or losing that matters. Olympics is a global sports festival under one family, one flag sans boundaries. Sport is a great leveller and Olympics is the classic example as race, colour, religion or country is immaterial in Olympic family,” he said.

De Silva said participation alone is a great achievement at Olympic level. “Competing at Olympics is the dream of any sportsman and woman. Everyone can’t win. It is impossible for everyone to win medals at that level. But what matters is to compete in true Olympic spirit, be a part of the global Olympic family to unite in sport,” he said. However, NOC Secretary General said Sri Lanka could still win medals in future if we plan the future from South Asian Games level.

“There were 120 odd countries, including Sri Lanka, which did not win a single medal at London Olympics. But it does not mean Sri Lanka could not win another medal in near future. If we aim with a solid plan, we could achieve that goal in years to come,” he said.

Gold medal – a distant goal

Sri Lanka’s best ever performance at South Asian Games was 44 gold medals when Colombo hosted the fifth edition of the eight-nation Games in 1991. Since then, Sri Lanka has not been able to come anywhere that record feat. A third Olympic medal, if not the first gold medal in the Olympic Games history looks a distant goal for Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka’s pathetic performance at the 2012 Olympic Games, concluded in London last weekend, is a clear indication that the country may not be able to win another Olympic medal in near future, unless we embark on an ambitious program.

Sri Lanka won its first ever Olympic medal some 52 years after the inception of modern summer Olympics way back in 1896. Duncan White came second in men’s 400m hurdles to give Sri Lanka its first Olympic medal at the 1948 Olympic Games in London.

But when the Games came to London for a record third time after 1908 and 1948 showdowns, none of the Sri Lankan competitors failed to go beyond qualifying rounds, except for one.

Incidentally, it took another 52 years for Sri Lanka to win its second Olympic medal after the 1948 milestone. Susanthika Jayasinghe came third in women’s 200m final at the Sydney 2000 Games.

But her bronze was later upgraded to a silver medal after the eventual winner Marion Jones of the USA was stripped of her medal for testing positive for performance enhancing drugs. If one was to go by those standards – a medal once in 52 years, Sri Lanka could only win its third Olympic medal only in 2052! But such negative thoughts could easily be proved wrong if Sri Lanka embarks on an ambitious mission.

No short cuts for Olympic medals

If we could identify talented young medal prospects and groom them carefully with all facilities, an Olympic medal is not a distant dream.

But there are no short cuts for that and Sri Lanka will have to work really hard with its preparations, if we are to earn that first ever Olympic gold medal.

Many thought that Duncan White would remain as Sri Lanka’s only Olympic medallist when Sri Lanka launched an island wide talent search and formed an ‘Olympic Super Pool’ way back in 1995. It was the brainchild of the then Minister of Sports S.B. Dissanayake, the present Minister of Higher Education.

Some laughed at Minister Dissanayake when he talked about an Olympic medal during that era. But his visionary project brought fruitful results within five years.

Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage too is keen on making use of country’s raw talent to produce future medallists. We hope that he would embark on another ambitious project with the hope of producing tomorrow’s medallists for Sri Lanka.