Sri Lanka toast their 'dazzling gazelle'

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Colombo: Susanthika Jayasinghe's medal-winning performance at the Sydney Olympics pushed Sri Lanka's election campaign to the back backseat on Friday with newspapers splashing pictures of the beaming sprint queen as she made history with a bronze in 200 metres.

Congratulatory messages and advertisements praising the "dazzling gazelle's" performance nudged politics out as politicians, including President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, and public and private sector organisations rushed to join in the chorus of praise for her.

Among them was Sports minister S B Dissanayake, who had a fiery relationship with Jayasinghe which ended in 1998 when she accused him of trying to "sexually molest" her shortly before she became embroiled in a drug scandal.

The controversial sprinter becomes only the second Sri Lankan to win any laurels at the Olympics, after Duncan White's silver in the men's hurdles in 1948.

"I simply feel great that I could make my little country proud," gushed Jayasinghe, who said she had been aiming for second place but was beaten to it by the Bahamas' Pauline Davis-Thomson.

She said she did not feel she could beat the American Marion Jones, who won the gold, but Jayasinghe was described by a commentator just before the race started as "a threat" to Jones.

There was a feeling of disbelief that Jayasinghe had pulled off the feat that ensures her a place in history. She is known for withdrawing from events at the last minute even after bragging that she would win, and Sri Lankans had their fingers crossed over whether she would participate in Thursday's final at all.

The outspoken Jayasinghe showed her defiant streak by sporting a yellow band on her wrist, signalling her support for a campaign back home to prevent violence at the October 10 election.

There is strong speculation that the high-profile athlete will campaign against the ruling coalition in the few days left before Parliamentary polls. She has lashed out against sports ministry officials for ostracizing her and trying to block her re-entry to the field even though she was exonerated of drug-taking charges.

After she complained of being sidelined by national coaches and even her team-mates, Jayasinghe was sponsored by the privately-funded Duncan White Foundation to train in the US under coach Tony Campbell.

Jayasinghe became the darling of the media after finishing second at the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) World Championships in Athens in 1997.

Jayasinghe once attributed her physical stamina to an arduous childhood in a small village when she lugged firewood to help her woodcutter father. Whether it was sheer brawn or not, she will still be the small-town girl who defied all odds to bring fame to Sri Lanka.

India Abroad News Service