by Reemus Fernando  

The book published by Sri Lanka Athletics to recall memories of its rich history is a treasure trove of statistics which cannot be found anywhere else.‘100 Years of Sri Lanka Athletics’ compiled by G.G.U. Saman Kumara, the recorder of the track and field governing body was launched at a ceremony prior to the 100th National Athletics Championships in April.

The book chronicles the history of the sport in the island with a series of articles, written by former athletes and technical officials, rare pictures from 1920 to the 2020s and hordes of statistics which throw light on how the sport and the performances of its athletes improved during the past century.

Though the sport celebrates its centenary this year the first track and field championships had been held more than 150 years ago on June 9, 10 and 11 in 1868 at the Army Firing Range in Kandy. The book provides specific details of a number of events held at that first-ever meet.

A memoir by the country’s first Asian Games gold medallist Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam, an article on Arthur C. Dep by reputed sports writer Neil Wijeratne, a forward by Sir John Tarbat (a former President of the SLA)  for the 25th-anniversary commemorative book of the 1955 Public School Athletics Championship reproduced in this book evokes nostalgia.

There is also an article on Ratnayake Central, Walala, the most successful sports school of the country written by the mentor and coach of the school Susantha Fernando. A technical official’s account on officiating and a chapter on the coaching fraternity which describes the yeoman service rendered by the likes of Anthony Abeysinghe, Lakshman de Alwis, Sunil Gunawardena and Sajith Jayalal are some of the other articles.

Most of the achievements of athletes at international competitions are celebrated in the book through series of pictorials. A picture of Carl Van Geyzal, the first Ceylonese to compete at the Olympic Games (1928) competing at the Cambridge University during 1920s to Olympic medallist Susanthika Jayasinghe’s moments of triumphs on the international stage, Asian Games medallist S.L.B. Rosa to Sugath Thilakaratne to Commonwealth Games medallist Sriyani Kulawansa’s action pictures chronicle the glittering moments of athletics. The pictorial also includes present record holders of every athletics discipline.

The 398-page book dedicates a better part of it to dwell on various records. The progressive records of each athletics discipline reported in the book are unique and according to Saman Kumara they can be found only in this book. The list of top 50 performers in each athletics discipline in history, another unique list is a true tribute to the champions who have toiled hard to keep the sport alive.