Once a regional entity in sprints, Sri Lanka has slumped to mediocrity during the last five years that turning the tide seems almost impossible.
Not that there weren’t athletes to take the baton from the seniors, who had perished into oblivion with the passage of time, but because the surrounding atmosphere did not encourage those promising sprinters to take the game as seriously as their predecessors.
With two Olympic medals, two World Championships medals and scores of medals at many other international competitions including the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and South Asian Games during its 90 years of athletics history, the athletes of yesteryear had laid the perfect foundation for a bright future as Sri Lanka was regarded one of Asia’s most impressive sprinter producing nations or probably the best in the South Asian region for many years.
The best however was during the last two decades when Sri Lanka reached many frontiers that were deemed impossible for the South Asians when Susanthika Jayasinghe and the rest made waves with some sterling performances at international level. Sri Lanka has won five golds, five silvers and ten bronze medals at the last six Asian Games since Beijing in 1990 in sprints. This was in addition to the Olympic and World Championship medals which Sri Lanka enjoyed after many decades.
Susanthika Jayasinghe, arguably the most decorated Sri Lankan sprinter, holds a personal best of 11.05 seconds in the 100m dash and 22.28 seconds in the 200m dash, timings that have been elusive to the present generation of women sprinters. When Jayasinghe was raising the bar from one end, others in the caliber of Damayanthi Darsha, Sugath Tillekeratne, Sriyani Kulawansa, Rohan Pradeep Kumara and Prasanna Amarasekara together lifted the standard to lofty heights.
Darsha’s performances were so impressive that she still holds the women’s 200m and 400m Asian Games records. Having won both 200m and 400m with record timing at the 1998, Bangkok Asian Games, she defended the 400m gold four years later in Busan, renewing her own record of 51.57. The Asian Games record for 200m stands at 22.48 seconds while the 400m stands at 51.13 seconds. Sugath Tillekaratne, who holds the Asian Championship record for men’s 400m with a blistering 44.61 seconds won the Asian Games gold medal at the 1998 Games with a 44.93 second run, becoming Sri Lanka’s only sprinter to run below 45 seconds.
Sriyani Kulawanasa did a remarkable 12.95 seconds for her 100m hurdles silver at the 1998 Commonwealth Games. There were regular medals in the men’s 4×400 relay at regional competitions. Such was the high standard Sri Lanka maintained in its glorious athletics history until recently.
This trend, however took a beating since the 2007 World Athletics Championship in Japan, as Sri Lanka struggled in their traditional frontiers since of late. Hundred meters with a sub 11.5 seconds seems almost impossible, 200 m under 23 seconds looks beyond reality and 400m with a sub 52 seconds is dream for those aspiring women sprinters. There’s no one close to match the brilliance of Kulawansa in hurdles and 400m with a sub 45 is inconceivable for male sprinters.
But how did Sri Lanka fall from grace to complete obscurity within a short span, a question that has been asked in the wake of the sliding.
Susanthika Jayasinghe, the most decorated Sri Lankan sprinter to-date blames the administrators for their flawed administrative concepts for the current mess.
“The system is flawed,” declared the legendary Jayasinghe
“People who do not know the pulse of the athletes call the shots more often than not and this has had grave repercussions on the sport,” she added.
Jayasinghe sits with the committee which she accuses, but plays no active role in changing the country’s athletics fortune. Jayasinghe is also an advisor to the minister of sports on athletic issues but it’s questionable whether she had ever been consulted by the authorities before making those important decisions concerning the future of the sport.
Jayasinghe thinks that there’s talent in abundance and if Sri Lanka works on a proper plan with a distinct goal in mind, turning the tide is not impossible as one may think. But this needs plenty of soul-searching, dedication, commitment from the rulers as well as from the athletes.
“If I can do, I do not see any reason why others cannot do. Of course I am a different kettle of fish altogether. I had a goal and I was determined, so I did care two hoots about all other issues surrounding me. I also had the same issues, even far worse but athletics was my priority,” she said
“But you find hardly anyone with that much of discipline and focus today. This is only the tip of the iceberg. The bigger issue is with the administrators. They were dreadful over the last two decades and they have let go a golden opportunity to inspire youth through the achievements we have made,” she said
There are several other issues that had contributed towards the present situation.
The bureaucratic bungling though comes on top, the lack of proper infra-structure facilities, lack of qualified and dedicated coaches, lack of exposure to best training facilities based on scientific expertise and also the use of performance enhancing drugs have directly impacted on the current slump in performance.
“When we were training there were several local coaches who were educated and experience. Now it’s not so. Every Tom, Dick and Harry after going through a physical training process thinks he or she is capable of producing champions. This is not so. It’s a much specified subject that needs to be mastered and handled only by professionals. I can only see two young coaches coming up in the ranks,” she said.
There has never been a national policy. Even if they had, it had never been implemented and the available infra-structure facilities and the support systems were way behind the standard required for athletes to concentrate on the sport.
“When we cannot afford to have a year-long training program for the national athlete, how could one expect the athletes to raise the bar? On the other hand we have very few training facilities in the country. These are issues that have directly impacted on the decline of sprint events in the country,” she asserted.
Highlighting the importance of creating an environment conducive for athletes to concentrate on the sport, Jayasinghe said Sri Lanka has never implemented an athlete-centric program.
“Do our athletes have the freedom of training? I do not think so. At many times I have turned back without training due to various reasons ranging from renting the facility out for various other purposes. It’s not easy here. The athletes are depressed and administrators are turning a blind eye,” she added.
Jayasinghe has been a vehement critic of the establishment from her running days as she often took the bull by the horns but in a flawed system she was helpless.
“People might question what my contribution to the sport as a vice president (in the Athletics Association) has been. But in Sri Lanka you need power and without that nothing is possible”, she said as she summed up the politics surrounding the administrative set up.
