Susanthika Jayasinghe

Susanthika Jayasinghe

Jayasinghe at the 2007 World Championships
Personal information
Native name	සුසන්තිකා ජයසිංහ
Nickname(s)	Asian Black Mare
Nationality	Sri Lankan
Ethnicity	Buddhist
Born	(1975-12-17) December 17, 1975 Uduwaka, Sri Lanka
Occupation	Sprinter
Years active	1994-2004
Sport
Country	Sri Lanka
Sport	Track and field
Event(s)	Sprint
International level	1994
Retired	5 February 2009
Achievements and titles
Olympic finals	2000 Sydney
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 Representing  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 a Sri Lankan sprint athlete specializing in the 100 and 200 metres. 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 and the first and only Asian to win an Olympic or world championship medal in a sprint event. She also won two gold medals at the 2007 Asian Athletics Championships and a bronze medal at the 2007 IAAF World Championships. She is known as the Asian Black Mare.

Early life

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.

Career

Jayasinghe won silver in the 200 m race at the 1997 World Championships and then travelled to the United States of America to train for the 2000 Summer Olympics. With no support from her national athletics association, she had to go heavily into debt to reach the Olympics, but in the Women's 200 meters finished behind Marion Jones and Pauline Davis-Thompson to win the bronze medal and become Sri Lanka's first Olympic medalist since 1948. On October 5, 2007, Jones admitted to having taken performance-enhancing drugs prior to the 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 because of her political beliefs and a falling out with a Sports Ministry official. She was later cleared of the offense. During a press conference for the women's 200m medalists at the 2000 Olympics, when asked whether her country would be proud of her, she said in a quiet voice:

"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]

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. However, after her medal achievement she was supported by a national fundraising drive in her homeland.

She visited Los Angeles to train with Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam (Asian Games Gold Medalist in the high jump in 1958, and two time Olympian in the 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

Achievements

See also

• Duncan White
• Sriyantha Dissanayake
• Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam

Notes

External links

• Susanthika Jayasinghe profile at IAAF

Olympic Games
Preceded by Damayanthi Dharsha	Flagbearer for  Sri Lanka Athens 2004 Beijing 2008	Succeeded by Niluka Karunaratne