Barrier Breakers

Sumanthiran Navaratnam a.k.a. Summa Navaratnam had a penchant to break records. Being a nonagenarian itself is a record. He is 96 years old and is the oldest living Sri Lankan Athlete. He was born on 21st May 1925.

He is the son of the late S.S. Navaratnam of the former Ceylon Civil Service and K.T Navaratnam nee Ratnam, daughter of Dr. C.S. Ratnam, Provincial Surgeon. His Civil Servant father wanted his son to obtain a Public School education, hence chose Royal College, Colombo for his son to attend.

Summa cut his teeth in athletics at a tender age of 12 years. At a young age of 15 years (1940) he was awarded Royal College athletics colours. To date he is the youngest athlete to achieve this at Royal – another record. In 1939 he became the Champion Junior Athlete at the Royal College Inter-House Athletic meet by winning the Best Performance Award in the Under 14 age category and the following year in the Under 16 age category. He won the 200 meters and 400 meters at the Public Schools Athletic meet with excellent timings and was also a member of the 4×100 meters relay winning quartet, all in 1943. He captained the Royal College athletics team in both 1942 and 1943.

In 1944, representing the Royal College Old Boys Athletics team at the National Amateur Athletics Association (AAA) Championships, Summa won the sprint double in the 100m and 200m events. He was the national 100m champion in meets held in 1944, 1946 and 1947. He was also awarded the Wilton Bartleet Trophy for the Best Individual Performance in these years. He also won the 100m at the National Championships in 1951. In 1953 he ran the 100 meters with the Asian Champion Lavy Pinto (Goa, India) and they were both timed at 11.0 sec, however Lavy Pinto was determined the winner. Summa also won the 200 meters event at the 1944 and 1946 National Championships.

As an up and coming champion young athlete he was included in the 4×100 meter relay team to compete in the Indo-Ceylon Dual Athletic Meet in 1945. This team included outstanding athletes Duncan White, R.E. Kitto and Basil Henricus.

In 1953 Summa participated in the Madras Provincial Olympic Games. He returned a timing of 10.4 seconds, which was the fastest timing, recorded on a grass track in Asia and was dubbed as the ‘fastest man in Asia’. In this event he beat the Indian National Champion Ivan Jacobs, who was the favorite for the event. Yours truly was an undergraduate at the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya and when we read this in the newspapers at that time, we jumped up in joy. However there were some critiques in the athletic circles; they mentioned that you cannot depend on individual timekeepers, even though this was the official and accepted method of recording at that time even in most of the International Athletic Meets. (Auto timing was used only from the 1952 Olympics.) This was an amazing record and feat for an athlete from Ceylon.

Due to nepotism on part of certain officials he was not selected to represent Ceylon in the 1948 Olympics in London and the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki. At the 1948 London Olympics the winning time of the 100 meters was 10.3 seconds, which was achieved by Harrison Dillard of the USA. Silver medalist Barney Ewell clocked 10.4 seconds and Bronze medalist Lloyd LaBeach of Panama was also timed at 10.4 seconds. At the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games the 100 meters Gold medalist was Lindy Remigino (USA) was timed at 10.79 seconds, Silver medalist Herbert McKenley (Jamaica) returned 10.8 seconds and Bronze medalist McDonald Bailey (Great Britain) clocked in at 10.83 seconds (all via auto electric timing).

In 1950, Summa had the honor of representing Ceylon at the British Empire Games held in Aukland, New Zealand. He competed in the 100 yards and 4×100 yards events.

In 1953 Summa started his Athletics Coaching career and did it for his alma mater Royal College.

The Ceylon contingent to the 1962 Jakarta Asian Games had five athletes he coached, i.e., Darrel Lieversz (400m), Lakshman de Alwis the school boy athlete from Moratu Vidyalaya, who later became the national champion (100m, 200m), Nirmali Dissanayake (100m, 200m) – she became the first female athlete to win an Asian Games medal for Ceylon, when she won the bronze medal, Lorraine Rutnam (100m, 200m) and Jilska Flamer Caldera (80m Hurdles).

By 1955 Summa decided to retire from competitive Athletics but continued playing Rugby Football for the CR & FC and All Ceylon. If not for the nepotism of certain officials in the athletic administration at that time, Summa would have won greater honor at international athletic meets including the British Empire Games and the Olympics.

He is married to Romaine and they have two children Kendle and Nadine.

We wish Summa a very happy 96th birthday, staying safe and well.

(K.L.F. Wijedasa – Former National Champion and record holder in the 100 metres)