Susanthika Jayasinghe

Deshabandu Kameradin Susanthika Jayasinghe (සුසන්තිකා ජයසිංහ; Tamil: சுசந்திகா ஜயசிங்ஹ, born December 17, 1975) is a Sri Lankan retired sprinter, who specialised in the 100 and 200 metres.

In 1994, she competed in the All Island Athletic Championship from a team from the SLAWC and won the best player trophy.

She rose to prominence at the age of 18 after claiming a gold in 200m and a silver in 100m events during the 1994 Asian Junior Championships which was held in Jakarta.

She thereafter joined the Sri Lankan national athletic squad competing in the 1994 Asian Games.

She made her South Asian Games debut at the age of 15 during the 1995 edition and claimed gold medals in 100m and 200m sprint events.

She also got due recognition for her silver medal performances in 100m events at the Australian Open and Taipei Open in 1995.

She has represented Sri Lanka at the Olympics on three occasions in 1996, 2000 and 2008.

She is considered one of the most decorated sprinters in Sri Lanka.

However, she is also a deemed as a controversial figure in Sri Lanka.

She became a victim of politics during the peak of her career as many politicians and sports officials attempted to take credit for her medal achievements despite not supporting her prior to competing at the events.

She was embroiled in political controversies including a series of false doping allegations, standoff with politicians, seven year old murder trials against her former spouse and sexual harassment.

She was also sidelined for major part of her career due to injury concerns and also endured a troubled marriage life.

Jayasinghe was born in Ethnawala, Warakapola, Uduwaka, Sri Lanka.

She was born as the fifth and youngest child in her family.

She was brought up in a poor family in a small village 60 kilometres north of Colombo, where running spikes cost more than the average month's wage, she had no access to proper sports equipment or coaches.

Her father who served as a bus driver at the Ceylon Transport Board had eventually lost his job by the time she was born.

The burden fell on the shoulders of her mother who cut rubber trees to run the family.

Later on Susanthika too lent a helping hand to her family by rolling beedi.

She earned around Rs.

22.50 by selling about 15000 beedis within four days.

Despite the financial tussles, she pursued her primary education at the Uduwaka Junior School.

She later switched to Athnawala Maha Vidyalaya to continue her studies.

She was encouraged to take up athletics by an army officer who watched her closely when she was running in an inter-school competition at the age of 16.

The army officer who watched her event as a spectator recommended her to join Sri Lanka Army soon after completing the school education.

She agreed his offer and signed up as a volunteer recruit and also trained hard in athletics while being attached with the army.

She enlisted in the Sri Lanka Army Volunteer Force to pursue her athletic career, and was attached to the 3rd Battalion, Sri Lanka Army Women's Corps (SLAWC) as a Private.

She made her maiden Olympic appearance at the age of 20 representing Sri Lanka at the 1996 Summer Olympics and competed in the women's 100m event.

She clinched silver medal in the women's 200m race at the 1997 World Championships.

She also became the first Sri Lankan to win a medal at the World Athletics Championships.

With no support from her national athletics association, she had to go heavily into debt to reach the Olympics.

She won the Olympic silver medal for the 200m event in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, the second Sri Lankan to win an Olympic medal after Duncan White and the first Asian woman to win an Olympic or World Championship medal in a sprint event.

She is also the only Asian athlete to have claimed an Olympic medal in sprint events.

She is also the first and only Sri Lankan to win a medal at the World Athletics Championships.

Her silver medal achievement at the 2000 Sydney Olympics also stood as the only Olympic medal for a South Asian in athletics event for 21 years before Neeraj Chopra's gold medal achievement at the 2020 Summer Olympics.

She is fondly nicknamed as the Asian Black Mare.

She faced severe financial constraints and mental challenges before her journey to the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

She even auctioned and sold out all her trophies in order to raise adequate funds to buy tickets with the intention of training in the USA prior to the Sydney Olympics.

She qualified to take part at the 2000 Summer Olympics after winning the 100m sprint event at the National Athletics Championships.

Notably, she competed in her first track event at the home soil after a gap of 2 years as she was sidelined for several months after sustaining a hamstring injury.

Just a month prior to the scheduled Olympic event, she bettered her own national record in 200m sprint event twice within just 2 days at the 25th National Sports Festival in August 2000.