 |
Susanthika Jayasinghe is a Sri Lankan athlete who became the first Sri Lankan women to receive a model in World Athletic Championships and Olympic Games. Thus she brought Sri Lanka its 2nd Olympic medal since 1948 London Olympics.Her achievements are so remarkable considering her humble beginning and often insurmountable circumstances she had to face during her sports career. She is affectionately known by her fans as “Susi”. Susanthika’s achievements are more remarkable as she is the only Asian women to win a medal at 200m sprint in any Olympics as of 2008.
Susanthika came in to prominence in 1994 Asian Games where she was placed second in the 200m sprint event. After this she acquired accolade after accolade for her athletic performances, culminating in 1997 World Athletic Championships, where she won the silver medal for 200m sprint. After this, she set her eyes on a more glamorous achievement, a gold medal in the forthcoming 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Despite all this “Susi” had obstacles on her way such as accusations, that she was using performance enhancing drugs, which Susanthika claimed was rigged and that charges against her were fabricated by a Sports Ministry official. She was suspended from athletics for this but was later cleared of her charges. Sometime later she went to USA to train under American coach, Tony Campbell.
For 2 years Susanthika went under a rigorous training program in order to prepare for the Olympics. Her main opponents for the gold medal according to “Susi” were Marion Jones and Merlin Ottey. The whole of Sri Lanka was watching the 200m women’s sprint on Television on that day. She did not disappoint Sri Lanka as Susanthika won the bronze medal behind Marion Jones and Pauline Davis of Bahamas. This was Sri Lanka’s first Olympic medal since Duncan White won a silver meal at the 1948 London Olympics.
After this Susanthika came back to Sri Lanka and went under training with her Husband who coached her. In 2004 Athens Olympics She pulled out of the Sri Lankan contingent and did not take part in the Olympics. After this her critics commented that she was “over the hill” and her days of glory were behind. Despite all this she won a bronze medal in the 2007 IAAF World Championships in Osaka, 10 years after her first IAAF medal. This silenced her critics and opponents and gave every sports loving Sri Lankan a hope for a medal at 2008 Beijing Olympics. She again trained under Tony Campbell who coached her before 2000 Olympics. Susanthika took part in the 2008 Olympics and reached the semi-finals at the 200m sprint for women, which is her pet event. She failed to qualify for the finals, but she insisted that she would not retire from athletics right away! Later in 2009 she announced her retirement from athletics. “SUSI” later had a baby and contested in the 2010 General Election held on April 8th.
