Three Key points to develop athletics in Sri Lanka by Sprinting queen Damayanthi Darsha
Sprinting queen during her heyday, Olympian and three times Asian Games Gold medalist, Damayanthi Darsha, said Sri Lanka’s lack of a proper National Policy and failed administration had resulted in the country’s athletics going down the drain, despite having a rich resource of several naturally talented athletes.
Darsha who has seven international records to her name, together with participating in the Olympics thrice, gave several reasons for Sri Lanka’s failure to keep up with the golden age of athletics, where even after 20 years from ‘their time’, the country has failed to match their performances, while world athletics has developed and marched forward by leaps and bounds.
By Darsha’s reckoning there are three important points to focus on to improve the standard of athletics in Sri Lanka.
“Number one is a proper National Policy and plan. We have several talented athletes in the country, but they are in from the outstations. So there should be a proper mechanism to identify them, bring them to the city and help them to excel. There was a huge gap among athletes even during our time when we compare top athletes like us and those who were next in line. That shouldn’t be the case. A National Policy will help the system to continue despite a change in the Sports Minister or administrators,” said Darsha.
“Next is the education of coaches’. Present day training is not what it was 20 years ago like in our days; it’s totally different now. Several new methods and techniques have been introduced so they should be updated about this. I hope coaches won’t get angry with me for saying this. We do have lots of good coaches but they haven’t got the opportunity to keep abreast with the modern world. There should be a proper system to keep the coaches updated. Discovering athletes alone is not enough “added Darsha.
The third major point Darsha reckons is systematic sponsorship and support for athletes, where they could just focus on training and winning than any other problem in their lives.
“During our time, authorities created the environment for us to perform and win medals. We had sponsorships and if there were any family problems or income, they took care of it or helped to get it sorted out and allow the athletes only to focus on training. But nowadays it’s not the case. There is no proper sponsorship system in place. Yes, there are sponsorship and cash prizes, but they aren’t systematic. Sometimes it’s there; sometimes it’s not. That won’t work. Without a proper system that investment will be just a waste. The Sports Ministry, National Olympic Committee (NOC) and National Association should work together,” said Darsha.
Darsha was also critical about sports administration, which does not give an opportunity for retired sportsmen/women who have brought honour to the country to be appointed or elected to the top positions, but it is always the same set of officials, and hence, there is hardly any progress.
“If we take NOC, there were/are Presidents, Secretaries and top officials, but none of them were Olympians or top sportsmen/women. If we take Olympic Committees in other countries, Olympians are involved in those Committees, which isn’t the case in Sri Lanka. Honestly I don’t mind the same set of officials continuing to hold the position if they are doing a good job, but here it is not so, and that’s the problem.
“If we take the Athletics Association, there is no clear path where a top international medalist could play a role in administration. It is the same with NOC. These Associations should involve more sportsmen/women with their decision making process and operation. Yes, we need professional administrators, too, but they can’t be the only ones running the show, which has been the problem for Sri Lanka all these years,” said Darsha.
No shortcuts for medals
Darsha, who had a 16-year international athletics career, further said the present day athletes lack patience and always looked for short cuts to achieve success, which just won’t work .
“This new society whose lives are attached to smart phones most of the time lack patience. They sometimes don’t have love for the event or training they do, but always look for shortcuts. We can’t win medals overnight. It requires patience, time, discipline, dedication and determination. We do have talented athletes but they no proper guidance or help. Some athletes have very small targets. For example, some athletes are satisfied with just becoming National champion. They should have bigger goals. Also, athletes tend to take a break for OL or AL exams, which should be avoided. You can pass OL with top results while being an athlete. Maybe they will have to skip a couple of competitions, but they have to keep training. I competed in the Olympic Games in 1992 and still passed OLs well.”
Darsha also reckoned poor recognition for former top medalists is one of the main reasons that parents think twice before letting their children do athletics. Commenting on India’s new life pension scheme for their top medalists, Darsha said, “Several countries in the world do that. We proposed such a system during Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara’s time which did not see the light of day. I think it’s high time to get back to it. It will be a big boost for athletes to keep training and go for those targets.”
On a personal note Darsha, who is now a mother of three, feels she could have won even more races if she continued to concentrate on the 200m, rather than her pet event post 1996, the 400m.
“I ran 22.48 seconds in 1998 to win the Asian Games Gold medal, so when I reflect on the past I feel if I had continued to focus on the 200m (rather than the 400m), maybe I could have won something more, but time had already gone by the time I realized this,” said Darsha.
