Susanthika Jayasinghe

Susanthika Jayasinghe (born December 17, 1975) is a sprint athlete specializing in the 100 and 200 metres. She was born in Atnawala, 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, Susanthika 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.

After her performance in 1997 at the IAAF World Chamionships 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 Games 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. The International Olympic Committee has stripped Jones of her medals. However, the redistribution of the medals will be decided in a forthcoming meeting.

However, Susanthika has been embroiled in controversy most of her career. She 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 recently visited Los Angeles to train with Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam (Asian Games Gold Medalist in high jump - 1958; and two time Olympian in high jump - 1952 and 1956). Shortly thereafter, she won gold medals in the 100 m and 200 m at the Asian Athletics championships 2007 in Jordan a bronze medal for the 200 m race at the IAAF World Championships 2007. It was her first world championship medal in 10 years. She is currently ranked by the IAAF (as of 13th August 2007) 18th in the world for the 100 m sprint and 20th in the world for the 200 m sprint.

Personal Bests

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