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ATHLETICS:
‘Dazzling Gazelle’ Susanthika Jayasinghe kept the
lion flag fluttering high at Osaka’s Nagai Stadium as she
bagged the women’s 200m bronze medal at the 11th IAAF World
Championship here on Friday night.
Running
in a disadvantageous lane seven, Jayasinghe joined reigning Olympic
gold medalist Veronica Campbell and the defending champion Allyson
Felix to keep the pace of the race. She had an impressive final
dash to clock 22.62 seconds to finish third, behind Felix (21.81)
and Campbell (22.34) who won the gold and silver respectively.
The
race got off to an inauspicious start with a false start taken
by Jamaican Aleen Bailey. Coupled with the bitter 100m quarter
final exit experience due to a false start and the first yellow
card shown in the 200m final, Jayasinghe had one of the slowest
reaction timings.
Nevertheless,
the Lankan wonder girl made a strong come back to go past former
World Championship silver medallist Torri Edwards and her American
team mate Sanya Richards, who both had better season’s timings
than Jayasinghe.
Despite
not being able to monitor the progress of her opponents, Jayasinghe,
on lane seven, had her own calculated dash until the curve.
It
was at the bend that Jayasinghe fired all cylinders to reach the
top gear. It was in the last 80m that Jayasinghe was at her brilliant
best, accelerating at her peak to go past Edwards and Richards
and closing on Campbell.
This
was only the second time that a Sri Lankan has won a World Championship
medal in its 24-year-old history. Incidentally, it was Jayasinghe
who first achieved this unique feat exactly ten years ago when
she clocked 22.39 seconds to finish behind Ukranian Zahana Pintusevich-Blocks
to take the silver in Athens on August 8, 1997.
With
a world ranking of 20, that too after her 22.99 dash to win the
Asian Championship gold in Jordan a month ago, Jayasinghe had
virtually no attention from media and none expected the 31-year-old
Lankan lass to spring a sensational surprise in a key final that
had four star American woman sprinters and two Jamaican sprint
queens.
Yet,
the unpredictable Jayasinghe did that once more to mark Sri Lanka’s
place prominently in the world athletic map.
Jayasinghe,
who became the first Asian to win a World Championship medal,
now becomes the only Asian to achieve this memorable feat twice.
“I
did it. I did it. Oh my poor father and mother, they are the people
who brought me up,” was the first emotional expression as
she spoke to the Lankan media in the mixed zone, minutes after
her historic feat.
“I
am happy that I could make it. Only a few believed that Susanthika
Jayasinghe could go this far once more. But nothing is going to
beat my will power, determination, courage and strength given
by mother who breast fed me for five long years. That has been
the key to my success,” an emotional Jayasinghe shared her
joy.
“The
path to my success has been a really hard one.
Many
would think that I am having a luxurious life as an elite world
class athlete. But it’s not so. How many days I have starved,
faced immense day to day problems. If not for all those, I would
have gone much far at world level,” she continued.
Inspired
by today’s latest addition to her rich haul of medal collection,
a determined Jayasinghe vowed to give Sri Lanka its first ever
Olympic gold next year. Jayasinghe said she would present Mother
Lanka with an Olympic gold medal before she hangs her spikes up.
“I
am hungry for victory. I am going to win an Olympic gold next
year, it’s hard and a huge challenge but Susanthika is going
to do that and make all of us in my little country proud,”
she assured.
Meanwhile,
Americans made a clean sweep in men’s 400m with Jeremy Wariner
(43.45), LaShawn Merritt (43.96) and Angelo Taylor (44.32) winning
the gold, silver and bronze respectively.
Olympic
champion Liu Xiang lived up to expectations to clock 12.95 seconds
and take the gold in men’s 110m hurdles. He was closely
followed by Americans Terrence Trammell (12.99) and David Payne
(13.02), who bagged the silver and bronze respectively.
Cuban
Yargelis Savigne (15.28m) won the gold medal in women’s
triple jump while the top honours in women’s javelin throw
went to Barbora Spotakova of Czech Republic, who had a clearance
of 67.07m.
Women’s
200m final result:
1.Allison
Felix (USA) - 21.81 WL
2.Veronica
Campbell (Jamaica) - 22.34 SB
3.Susanthika
Jayasinghe (Sri Lanka) - 22.63
4.Torri
Edwards (USA) - 22.65
5.Sanya
Richards (USA) - 22.70
6.Aleen
Bailey (Jamaica) - 22.72
7.LaShauntea
Moore (USA) - 22.97
8.Cydonie
Mothersil (Cayman Islands) - 23.08 |
