Sports Minister to help prepare Lanka for next Olympics

By our correspondent from Rio

Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekera is ready to make an investment for Sri Lanka sport so that the country could produce more Olympians and send a strong contingent for the 2020 summer Games. He will soon have discussions with all relevant parties to get suggestions before implementing a solid program so that Sri Lanka could make its presence felt at Tokyo 2020 Games.

"We will give every possible support and encouragement for sportsmen so that we could do well at future international events," the Minister said. Some of the Lankan Olympians have already told their grievances as well as suggestions to the Minister in Rio.

Views of the national sports associations as well as top level sportsmen would be obtained before drafting a result-oriented program that would groom more sportsmen and women to gain qualifying standards for the next summer Games in the Japanese capital.

Sri Lanka painted a dismal picture at the recently-concluded 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Minister Jayasekera who was in Rio and got first-hand experience, is ready to embark on an ambitious program that would enable Sri Lanka to send a contingent of around 25 members for the 2020 Olympic Games.

Sri Lanka's future medal prospects in regional South Asian Games as well as in global events such as Asian Games, Commonwealth Games as well as Olympic Games would be identified to form a national super pool as an investment for the future.

The main aim of the program is to implement an organized training program for the national poolists as well as to reach for young talent to be included in a development pool which could be used as a feeder pool for the national super pool of sportsmen and women in Olympic sports.

There are no short cuts in sport, be it at national level or a global event of the highest magnitude such as the Olympic Games. It is the hard work, dedication and devotion, coupled with talent and immense sacrifices that would produce an Olympic medallist. The best example is former sprint queen Susanthika Jayasinghe who won the women's 200m silver medal at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

When talking about making an investment for the future to produce Olympic medallists, the best example in recent times comes from Great Britain. When the British Olympians returned to London from Atlanta, United Sates 20 years ago, they were branded as the "team of shame". The British media went to town with severe criticism on its Olympic Games contingent for 1996 centenary summer Olympics.

They managed to win a solitary gold medal at the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta and secured only the 36th position in the final medal table, finishing even below less fancied teams such as Kazakhstan, Algeria and Ireland.

But the Team GB returned to London from Rio de Janeiro last week after the 2016 Olympic Games with their heads high after becoming the second power in world sport behind the United States. Britain pocketed a record 27 gold medals to finish second in the final medals standings, behind only the United States' 46. Most importantly, they were able to go past the table leaders of the last London 2012 Games China, which managed to secure only 26 gold medals.

Great Britain's gold haul in Rio was higher than the country's combined gold medal total won from the six Games from 1976 to 1996, and the highest tally it has ever recorded in an Olympics outside home soil. Its huge investment on sport is now bearing fruit at the highest level - 10th in medals in Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004, fourth in Beijing 2008, third in London 2012 and now second in Rio 2016.

After its pathetic performance at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Great Britain decided to invest funds raised from the national lottery into elite sports, to improve the country's prospects of performing well in the Games. Today, nearly three fourth of Britain's funding on Olympic pools comes from the national lottery, although its government spending has been curtailed since 2008. Britain's funding for summer Olympic sports has risen to 350 million British pounds in 2016 from a mere 59 British pounds in 1996. Similarly, grants for the medal-winning British athletes have risen from USD 5,200 a year in 1996 to USD 37,000 at present. Sri Lanka could take a cue from the British initiative.

In mid 90s former Sports Minister S.B. Dissanayake initiated the country's medal search with an Olympic super pool by generating funds from the private sector. In less than five years' time, Sri Lanka produced an Olympic silver medalist! Hence, the future for Sri Lanka in Olympic will not be bleak, if we make the right investment with an ambitious program that would bear fruit by 2024 Games.