Sprint queen Susie
to call it quits
By Samiddha Rathnayake
Local sprint queen Susanthika Jayasinghe is finally calling it a day. The Nation reliably learns that Jayasinghe, 33 is quitting to start a family.
She is expected to make her plans for retirement public very shortly ending a glorious 17-year athletics career the highlights of which were her winning an Olympic medal and also a medal in the IAAF World championships.
In 2000 at the Sydney Olympics, Jayasinghe became only the second Sri Lankan athlete and the first female athlete to win an Olympic medal. She also won two World Championship medals – silver at Athens in 1997 and a bronze at Osaka ten years later. All her medals were won at her pet event the women’s 200 metres where her personal best timing is 22.28 secs. In the 100 metres her personal best is 11.04 secs. She also won several gold medals in the Asian Athletics circuit.
Susanthika’s last hurrah was at the Beijing Olympics where she managed seventh place in the 200 metres semifinals.
Along with athletes Damayanthi Dharsha and Sugath Tillakaratne, Susanthika lifted Sri Lanka athletics to international competitive level.
According to a source close to her family, Susanthika has taken this decision on advice from her doctors. “Most probably there will be a function in the coming month to announce her retirement,” Sunil Jayaweera, her one time coach said.
Jayaweera further stated that Susanthika has not yet decided whether to start a second phase of her life as a coach, but said that at the moment she would concentrate on her family life.
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--- The Nation
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