14th August 1948, most of the Ceylonese were glued into the radio listening to commentator all the way from England.
This is Abrahams of the BBC speaking to you from London. The first event on the cards for this Fourteenth Olympiad-the first heat of the 400 metres hurdles for men, has got off the starting blocks.
And it’s the little man in the outer lane who has sprung to a good start. There he is gliding over the hurdles. It’s amazing this, but it’s true-he is ahead of all others. And now he’s making the winning dash for the tape.
Fantastic! Oh! In the excitement I’ve not even given this little man’s name. Yes, he is from Ceylon-and the name’s Duncan White!
14th august 1948, a date to remember. If most you’ll are wondering what happened on this day, well, on this special day Ceylon athlete Duncan White MBE, ED, DLC.M.INST.AM. (1 March 1918 – 3 July 1998) who was a legendary Trinitian won the first ever medal for Ceylon in an Olympic event. He won the 400 meter hurdles at the 1948 Summer Olympic in London, England.
Sir Duncan White, was born on 1sth March 1918 in a small town called Lathpandura near Kalutura . He was the second child of John Bernard White and Cecilia Hawk White. Sir Duncan white was educated at the one of the prestigious schools in Sri Lanka, Trinity College Kandy, where he was awarded the “Trinity Lion” for Athletics and this was subsequently withdrawn from him due minor disciplinary reasons. Duncan’s road to Olympic was not paved with gold. In fact, he found it difficult to even to buy a pair of running shoes. White won his medal in the same year Ceylon gained independence from the Britain. He had trained 3 months before the big event and was able to earn himself the silver medal, whereas, Roy Cochran, the gold medalist for the USA had trained about 4 years. White’s timing was just 0.7 seconds behind the Cochran‘s timing.
The report of Duncan White’s 1948 London Olympic Games record 400 meter Men’s Hurdles Event was as follows:
“In the final Cochran was in the third lane, White of Ceylon (as Sri Lanka was known then) in the fifth lane and Larsson of Sweden on the outside. White went off at a terrific pace but by half distance Cochran, hurdling in superb form was ahead. He won by a huge margin in 51.1 seconds, a magnificent victory. White of Ceylon, who was second, had very little competition before the games and his achievement of 51.8 seconds deserves the highest praise.”
After the Olympic victory, White was welcomed at a ceremony at Trinity, and was honoured by returning his ‘Lion’. Making a speech at the special assembly, White stated that “although my victory at the Olympics is prestigious, the ‘Lion’ makes me feel more honoured than that”, and received the ‘Lion’ with open arms.
2 years later, when he was 32 he ran again at the British Empire games in New Zealand. He ran 400m hurdles with the record timing of 52.5 seconds (few seconds behind the world record) which gave him a gold medal.
Years later he was selected as coach of the Sri Lanka Schools Athletic Association, a post offered to him by the Education Department. By this time he had joined the Army as a Major in the Volunteer Force.
After his long stay in Ceylon, left the island with his wife Angela Jeanne Siebel and his six children, Maxine, Nita, Christopher, Daniel, Marilyn and Fiona to domicile in England. He was awarded the British Empire (MBE) in 1949. Couple of years later in 1988 he was honoured by his Sri Lankan homeland by a postage stamp
Trivia
Returning from Olympics, White bought is his own car a green Morris Minor convertible with a loan. With Angela his newly wedded wife he occupied a ramshackle “bungalow” in the old military camp at Maharagama, which had become the Government Training College, where he took up the poorly paid Physical Education lecturer’s post.
It is also said that he had he couldn’t sleep well and have rest night before the Olympic cause the landlord of the apartment had a party and he couldn’t sleep well that night
Duncan never forgot his past, he often visited the mother country . he and his wife Angela always gave a helping hand to the needy. 3rd July 1998 the legendary athlete passed away in his hometown Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England but his memory , his silver medal at the Olympic and the gold medal at the British empire games in 1950 and his service for Ceylon will last long in Sri Lanka history.
Every Olympics the man who will be remembered is DUNCAN WHITE
Sources – Sunday times, Sunday observer , Wikipedia and the trinity.lk
