Susanthika gearing for Olympic challenge

Dinesh WEERAWANSA in Beijing

Ace Sri Lanka woman sprinter Susanthika Jayasinghe had a long work out this morning as she prepares to bag another Olympic medal after eight years. Dazzling gazelle Jayasinghe, who rewrote Sri Lanka’s Olympic history at the Sydney 2000 Games winning her country’s first Olympic medal in 52 years, will be looking for glory at the Beijing Olympic Games here.

The 32-year-old veteran woman sprinter, who proved that she has not lost her old touch with her second IAAF World Championship medal in Osaka last year, will be competing in women’s 200m event of which the first round heats are scheduled for July 19.

Jayasinghe is fresh after a six-month stint in Los Angeles where she has been training under American coach Tony Campbell, the man who guided her to Olympic glory at the Sydney 2000 Games. In order to fully concentrate on her pet event, Jayasinghe will not be competing in women’s 100m here.

“I am in a better shape now. My training in the US helped me to be in perfect shape for the Olympics. Once again, my aim is to make my country proud,” the Lankan sprint queen said after today’s practice session.

But she did not want to talk about her chances here. “Let’s tale everything step by step. Right now, I am concentrating on the first round heats. You have to wait and see how it goes.

That was exactly what I did on my way to my Olympic medal in Sydney, taking race by race and concentrating on my goals step by step,” Jayasinghe said without elaborating anything on her medal chances.

Even at the last IAAF World Championships in Osaka, Japan, only a few people put their bets on Jayasinghe who has now reached the final lap of her distinguish track and field career.

Yet, she reached that gigantic task winning her second medal - a bronze, in the World Championship. In 1997, she became the first Asian to win a medal in the history of the IAAF World Championship, winning women’s 200m silver behind Zahana Pintusevich-Block.