Will Susanthika remain Lanka’s only World Championship medallist?

Dinesh Weerawansa

Sri Lanka will send an eight-member team for the 14th IAAF World Championship which is scheduled to commence in Moscow on August 10. Besides hurdler Christine Sonali Merrill and javelin thrower Nadeeka Lakmali, Sri Lanka will also field its men’s 4 x 400m men’s relay team which bagged a medal at the recent Asian Championships.

But Sri Lanka’s record at the IAAF World Championship series is extremely poor with Susanthika Jayasinghe being the only Lankan medallist. Sri Lanka has won only two medals - a silver and a bronze, in the 30-year-history of the IAAF World Championship series which began in 1983.

‘Dazzling Gazelle’ Susanthika Jayasinghe has accounted for both the medals ever won by Sri Lanka. More importantly, she has won her second medal exactly ten years after her first historic feat.

It took 14 years since the inauguration of the IAAF World Championship series for Sri Lanka to secure a medal. Jayasinghe created Sri Lanka athletic history when she bagged women’s 200m silver medal at the 1997 IAAF World Championships held in Athens, Greece.

On her way to the silver, Jayasinghe won the second of the four quarter final heats worked off on August 6, 1997 - exactly 16 years ago. She clocked 22,47 to win the heat two, ahead of Russian Marina Trandenkova (22.63) and Jamaican Juliet Cuthbert (22.83).

All three qualified to run in the semi finals. The other woman sprinters who won the other quarter final heats are Jamaican Merline Ottey (22.65 in heat 1), French Marie-Jose Perec (22.69 in heat 3) and Australian Melinda Gainsford-Taylor (the fastest quarter final timing of 22.45 seconds in heat four).

Interestingly, Zahana Pintusevich-Block of Ukraine who ultimately won the women’s 200m gold in Athens 1997, finished only third in heat 4 with a timing of 22.56 seconds, behind Australian Melinda Gainsford-Taylor and French Sylviane Felix (22.56).

In the women’s 200m semi finals worked off on August 7, 1997, both Jayasinghe and Pintusevich-Block finished only second in their respective semis. Pintusevich-Block clocked 22.65 to finish second in the first semi final won by American Inger Miller in 22.59 seconds. Similarly, Jayasinghe returned a timing of 22.33 seconds to come second behind Jamaican Ottey (a season’s best 22.26).

But both Pintusevich-Block and Jayasinghe rose to the big occasion when the women’s 200m final was worked off on August 8, 1997.

The Ukrainian, the fastest out of the blocks in the final and running against the wind (- 0.7), clocked 22.32 to secure the gold while Jayasinghe’s 22.39 was good enough for the silver, ahead of Jamaican Ottey who settled for the bronze medal in 22.40.

It was only one hundredth of a second that differentiated Jayasinghe from Ottey. Much fancied athletes such as Russian Yekaterina Leshcheva-Grigoryeva (22.50) and American Miller (22.52) secured the fourth and fifth places respectively.

Exactly ten years after that memorable feat, Jayasinghe bagged another medal in her pet event - this time a bronze at the 2007 IAAF World Championships in Osaka, Japan when yours truly covered the event for the Daily News and the Sunday Observer.

Jayasinghe clocked a season’s best 22.55 seconds to win the women’s 200m first qualifying round heat worked off on August 29, 2007, behind American Allison Felix (22.50). On August 29, 2007, Jayasinghe was placed second in the first quarter final heat with the identical timing she had in the heats to finish behind Felix’s US teammate Sanya Richards-Ross (22.31).

The others who won the three remaining quarter finals were American Felix (22.61 in QF heat 2), Jamaicans Veronica Campbell-Brown (22.55 in QF heat 3) and Aleen Bailey (22.60 in QF heat 4).

Felix, the ultimate gold medallist had been consistent right throughout her way to the women’s 200m crown. Having won the second quarter final, she also won the first semi final worked off on August 30, 2007 with a timing of 22.21 seconds, ahead of Jamaican Veronica Campbell-Brown (22.44) and American Torri Edwards (22.51).

Jayasinghe finished third in the second semi final worked off in the same night with a timing of 22.66 seconds. The race was won by American Sanya Richards-Ross in 22.50 seconds ahead of Jamaican Aleen Bailey who was placed second with a timing of 22.65.

The women’s 200m final of the 2007 IAAF World Championship was worked off at Osaka Stadium on August 31, 2007 night.

American Felix clocked that year’s world’s leading timing of 21.81 seconds to win the gold medal.

Jamaican Campbell-Brown won the silver with a season’s best 22.34 seconds ahead of Jayasinghe whose timing of 22.63 seconds won her the bronze.

The writer could well remember how Jayasinghe broke to the good news to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the first to greet Jayasinghe, as she walked into the stadium right after the race.

It was minutes after the race that President Rajapaksa came on the writer’s mobile phone to greet Jayasinghe while she was speaking to Sri Lanka’s four-member media team of Sarath Prematillake (Kreeda), Asoka Goonetillake (Divaina) and Channaka de Silva (Daily Mirror). “Sir, I did it sir. I did it once again for my country,” Jayasinghe told the President.