Channaka de Silva reporting from Osaka, Japan
The 11th Athletics World Championships which ended here at the Nagai stadium on Sunday will forever be etched in the minds of twenty million Sri Lankans for the magnificent performance of the country's most valuable sportswoman's legendary medal winning run on August 31, 2007.
For a country ravaged by a crippling war and squeezed by an alarming financial crunch, Susanthika Jayasinghe's medal would serve as a soothing balm while for a victory-starved world's largest continent with a population of nearly four billion or 60 percent of the world's population, it came as a relief.
As the United States once again underlined their sporting strength to the world with a runaway lead at the top of the medals table of the world championships with a whopping 14 gold medals, Asian athletes managed a total of mere eight medals with just two of them golds.
Even the hosts Japan, who were in danger of ending the championships without a medal, finally won a bronze through Reiko Tosa in the women's marathon on the morning of the final day.
Jayasinghe who also won the silver at the 1997 world championships in Athens and bronze at the 2000 Olympics, was once again the star of South Asia bringing the only medal to the region. The only other hope Anju Bobby George of India who won a medal in the long jump at the last world championships in Helsinki two years ago, finished a disappointing ninth in the finals.
Bahrain's Maryam Yusuf Jamal, actually a runner born in Ethiopia, won the women's 1,500 metres gold while China's World record holder Liu Xiang, the most popular athlete here, won the men's 100 metres hurdles as expected to give Asia the golds.
But reigning Olympic champion Liu who is supposed to win when Beijing hosts the next Olympics, is tired of being at the top.
"Nowadays there is too much pressure. The others can hide but I'm number one in the world. I win the gold medal here and next year I'm expected to win the Olympics" he said adding "Every time I go out there's pressure on me, I don't get good sleep."
Bahrain's Rashid Ramzi, also an import from the African country of Morocco, won the 800-1500m double at the previous world championships, but managed only a silver in the 1500m here.
World number one woman marathon runner Zhou Chunxiu only managed a silver in the event behind Kenya's Catherine Ndereba on Sunday morning, giving Asia another medal.
China's Zhang Wenxiu of China won bronze in the women's hammer, while Qatar's Mubarak Hassan Shami, also an import from the African country Kenya, won silver in the men's marathon to finish as another Asian medalist at the nine-day event.
IAAF President Lamine Diack praised the hosts on the final day. "We have had a wonderful experience," he said. "You have given us the best of Japanese hospitality."
The low ticket sales were a major worry for the organisers prior to the championships and crowds at Nagai were small on week days but became much larger at the final weekend.
The highlight of the world's highest sporting spectacle was the exciting sprint double and the triple gold achievement by the new star of world athletics Tyson Gay from America.
The Americans picked up three more gold medals on the final day to finish with 26 total medals, and were followed in the final standings by Kenya (five gold, 13 total medals) and Russia (four, 16).
American sprinter Allyson Felix who won the gold in women's 200m where Jayasinghe won the bronze also finished with three golds when on Sunday she was part of the champion 4X400m relay team having earlier being a member of the victorious 4X100m relay team as well.
Another American Bernard Lagat, born and raised in Kenya, also won two golds when he added the men's 5,000 meters on the final night to the 1,500 gold he won earlier.
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