Susanthika Jayasinghe

Susanthika Jayasinghe

Jayasinghe at the 2007 World Championships
Personal information
Native name	සුසන්තිකා ජයසිංහ
Nickname(s)	Asian Black Mare
Nationality	Sri Lankan
Born	December 17, 1975 Uduwaka, Sri Lanka
Sport
Country	Sri Lanka
Sport	Track and field
Event(s)	Sprint
International level	1994
Retired	5 February 2009
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	100 m: 11.04[1] September 9, 2000 (Yokohama, Japan) 200 m: 22.28 September 28, 2000 (Sydney, Australia)
Medal record Women's athletics Competitor for  Sri Lanka Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 0 1 0 World Championships 0 1 1 Asian Games 1 2 1 Asian Championships 6 1 0 Continental Cup 0 1 0 Lusophony Games 2 0 0 Total 9 6 2 Event 1st 2nd 3rd 100 m 4 3 0 200 m 4 3 2 4x100 m relay 1 0 0 Olympic Games 2000 Sydney 200m World Championships 1997 Athens 200 m 2007 Osaka 200 m Asian Games 2002 Busan 100 m 1994 Hiroshima 200 m 2006 Doha 100 m 2006 Doha 200 m Asian Championships 1995 Jakarta 200 m 2000 Jakarta 4 x 100 m 2002 Colombo 100 m 2002 Colombo 200 m 2007 Amman 100 m 2007 Amman 200 m 1995 Jakarta 100 m Continental Cup 2002 Madrid 100 m Lusophony Games 2006 Macao 100 m 2006 Macao 200 m
Updated on 12 October 2015.

Susanthika Jayasinghe (Sinhalese: සුසන්තිකා ජයසිංහ; Tamil: சுசந்திகா ஜயசிங்ஹ) (born December 17, 1975) is Sri Lankan sprint athlete specializing in the 100 and 200 metres. She is the winner of Olympic silver-medal for 100m event in 2000 summer Olympic. Known as Asian Black Mare, Jayasinghe is known as the best athlete to ever represent Sri Lanka in international level.

Jayasinghe was born in Uduwaka, Sri Lanka. 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. Yet in spite of these underprivileged conditions she managed to progress to a standard where she could claim medals at both the Summer Olympics and IAAF World Championships in Athletics.

Jayasinghe is the first and only Asian to win an Olympic or world championship medal in any of 100 m, 200 m or 400 m sprint events. As news of Susanthika Jayasinghe's World Championship achievement spread, almost all the people living in Atnawala village, 60 km from Colombo, streamed in to Jayasinghes' tiny home to congratulate them on their daughter's remarkable feat.

Career

After her performance in the 200 m race at the 1997 World Championships she travelled to the United States of America to train. Along with Dhamyanthi Dharsha and Sugath Tillakaratne her athletics performances have lifted Sri Lanka to the international competitive level. In 2000 she became the nation's first Olympic medalist since 1948, when she finished behind Marion Jones and Pauline Davis-Thompson in the Women's 200 meters. On October 5, 2007 Marion Jones admitted to having been taking performance-enhancing drugs prior to the 2000 Summer Olympics, and Jayasinghe was later awarded the silver medal.^[2]

Jayasinghe was suspended from competition in April 1998 for failing a drug test that she claimed was rigged due to her political beliefs and a falling out with a Sports Ministry official. She was later cleared of the offense. After returning home with her Olympic medal she was attacked by a male athlete because, she believed, she had been supporting former government members in an election campaign. With no support from her national athletics association she had to go heavily into debt to even reach the 2000 Olympics but after her medal achievement there she was supported by a national fundraising drive in her homeland. In spite of that she left her home country to live in Los Angeles. She currently lives, however, in Sri Lanka. She told some of her story during a press conference for the women's 200 m medalists at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, when she was asked if her country would be proud of her. In a quiet voice, she said:

"I can't explain. You wouldn't understand. They give me, trouble, trouble, trouble. I give them bronze medal. It'll make them sad... It was trouble with me. Doping and sexual harassment."

She then went on to speak of officials coming to her house, giving her a drug test and refusing to seal the urine specimen with her watching. She refused to sign the release. Later they told her she had tested positive for nandrolone. By the time she was cleared, she was no longer welcome by her country's sporting establishment.^[3]

She visited Los Angeles to train with Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam (Asian Games Gold Medalist in high jump in 1958, and two time Olympian in high jump – in 1952 and 1956). Shortly thereafter, she won gold medals in the 100 m and 200 m at the 2007 Asian Athletics Championships in Jordan and a bronze medal in the 200 m race at the 2007 IAAF World Championships. It was her first World Championship medal in 10 years. On 13 August 2007 she was ranked by the IAAF as 18th in the World for the 100 m sprint and 20th in the World for the 200 m sprint.

On February 5, 2009, Jayasinghe announced her retirement from sports^[4] in order to focus on becoming a mother.^[5] On March 31, 2009, she gave birth to a baby boy.^[6]

In November 2010 she announced her plan to return to competition.^[7][8]

Personal bests

Event	Time	Date	Venue
100 m	11.04[9]	September 9, 2000	Yokohama, Japan
200 m	22.28	September 28, 2000	Sydney, Australia

Achievements

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
1994	Asian Games	Hiroshima, Japan	2nd	200 m
1995	Asian Championships	Jakarta, Indonesia	2nd	100 m
			1st	200 m
1997	World Championships	Athens, Greece	2nd	200 m
1999	IAAF Grand Prix Final	Munich, Germany	8th	200 m
2000	Summer Olympics	Sydney, Australia	2nd	200 m
2001	World Indoor Championships	Lisbon, Portugal	4th	200 m
2002	Asian Championships	Colombo, Sri Lanka	1st	100 m
			1st	200 m
	Commonwealth Games	Manchester, England	4th	100 m
	Asian Games	Busan, South Korea	1st	100 m
	IAAF World Cup	Madrid, Spain	2nd	100 m
			4th	200 m
2006	Asian Games	Doha, Qatar	2nd	100 m
			3rd	200 m
2007	Asian Championships	Amman, Jordan	1st	100 m
			1st	200 m
	World Championships	Osaka, Japan	3rd	200 m

See also

• Duncan White
• Sriyantha Dissanayake
• Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam

Notes

1. Daily News: SPORTS STRIVING FOR GREATER HEIGHTS AFTER INDEPENDENCE, Thursday, 4 February 2010
2. ESPN, Dec. 9, 2009: "IOC reallocates Jones' medals"
3. Adrian Wojnarowski: A bit of foolishness to ease the tension, Friday, September 29, 2000
4. Sinhale Hot News: "Susanthika Jayasinghe announced her retirement"
5. Athletic Assn. of Sri Lanka: "Latest Sri Lankan Athletics News" “It has been a long felt dream which would finally become a reality this year. I want to get that great feeling of becoming a mother, devote some time for my child and then look at how I am going to give something back to athletics.”
6. LankanNewspapers.com: "News Image 41703 – Susanthika Jayasinghe gives birth to a son"
7. Gamini Gunaratna, Sri Lanka News Paper by LankaPage.com (LLC)- Latest Hot News from Sri Lanka. "Sri Lanka : Sri Lanka sprint queen to return to competition". Colombopage.com. Retrieved 2011-05-06.
8. "Lanka's Olympic medalist sprinter to return from retirement". The Times of India. 2010-11-29. Retrieved 2011-05-06.
9. Daily News: SPORTS STRIVING FOR GREATER HEIGHTS AFTER INDEPENDENCE, Thursday, 4 February 2010

External links

• Susanthika Jayasinghe profile at IAAF