SLB Rosa: Sri Lanka's bare-footed wonder boy

by Meghawarna Kumarasinghe

In an era when Sri Lankan athletes were trying to make gains on the International stage, SLB Rosa made a breakthrough at the Asian Games in Bangkok by winning two bronze medals in 1966 running bare feet in the 5000 and 10,000 metres. He finished the 5000 metres in 14:52:6 and clocked 31:26:5 in the 10,000 metres. The winner of the 10,000 metres event was a Japanese University student who clocked 30:37.8 while the silver medalist also from Japan clocked 30:38.8.

SLB Rosa

After Rosa's ground breaking win in Bangkok, the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Transport Board Anil Moonasinghe invited the athlete to join them with all the facilities for training to further his prospects in future competitions.

Sellappuliyage Lucian Benedict Rosa was born on February 11, 1944 in Kandy, the youngest in a family of three to parents Arnold Rosa who died when he was three years and Charlotte de Silva.

Rosa, an old boy of Roman Catholic School Ampitiya, started his athletic career when he won the five mile road race (cross country) organized by Dharmaraja College, Kandy. From that day he went from strength to strength in athletics. After he left school in 1963, he was enlisted in the Army as a Private, and Rosa participated in the 1500, 5000 and 10,000 events at the Inter-Unit Army meets and Defence Services meets where he won all the events with a record times. Former Sri Lanka Olympic long distance runner Linaz Diaz was his coach.

For Rosa, it was certainly a most creditable performance. He had never participated in the Public Schools athletics meets and never won a race until he joined the Army. Still he was good enough to represent his country and eventually performed the best among the athletes.

In 1965 Rosa was in the headlines when he beat Sri Lanka's Olympic long distance runner R.J.K. Karunananda in the 5000 event in the National Championships.

During 1967-1970 Rosa's achievements were such that he carried away most of the awards and trophies in long distance events in Sri Lanka and there wasn't any competitor around to challenge him in his events. His rivals were R.J.K. Karunananda, A.W. Alphousus, Wimalasena Perera, A.S.M. Khan and A.L.M. Khan among others.

Later at a Singapore invitation meet Rosa clocked 14:21 in the 5000 metres event and qualified to participate at the Mexico Olympic Games, but unfortunately he was unable to make the trip due to his personal reasons.

In 1970 he established a new Sri Lanka record in the 10,000 metres at the National Athletics Championships meet and had the opportunity to represent Sri Lanka at the sixth Asian Games in Bangkok. The best achievement was Rosa's magnificent performance at the Games when for the first time a Sri Lankan athlete won two Gold medals and he was crowned the King of middle distance running in Asia.

Rosa's performance in Bangkok was phenomenal considering the fact that he ran on a modern track without spikes. Rosa established a new Games record in the 10,000, his pet event clocking 29:55.6. He finished the 5000 in 14:32:2.

At the 1972 Olympic Games held in Munich, Germany, Rosa had the honour of leading the Sri Lanka team that had Sunil Gunawardena and W. Wimaladasa. Unfortunately Rosa finished 16th in the 10,000 first round race.

After watching Rosa's magnificent performance at the Asian Games in Bangkok, the Director of the University of Wisconsin Park, USA, Roshan Ditch and their athletics coach Bob Lawson offered a scholarship to Rosa to follow a Business Management and Coaching Certificate Course from 1970 to '74 and he successfully passed the Post Graduate Course in 1975.

At the University, Rosa on the advice of his coaches changed over to the marathon. In 1976 Rosa was placed fourth in the Boston Marathon, but was deprived of participating in the Montreal Olympics in Canada.

It was a big blow for him and Rosa gave up athletics. He is currently the president of the Sri Lanka National Veterans Athletics Association.

Understandably Rosa is not satisfied with the standard of athletics in Sri Lanka and believes it is due to the lack of knowledge on the part of coaches and poor management. He contends that for every athletic meet there should be a qualifying time for running events as well as a qualifying distance for throwing events.

In 1977 Rosa married Wimala de Silva and were blessed with two children, daughter Dilanee a former tennis player now in the USA and son Dilusha who is working in a Department Store as a Human Resources Assistant in the USA.