The Ceylon Hurdler Who Had The Last Laugh!
Ceylon's First Olympic Medalist Duncan White, who was born today in 1918, had an unusual exchange of words at the starting block before the start of his Olympic Final.
Today's story is about Deshamanya Major Duncan White, who was born on this day in 1918 and has the undying legacy as Ceylon's first Olympic medalist, but do you know what happened to him at the starting block before the race started?
Before that part of the story is revealed, did you know that he only had less than 4 months to train for the Olympics after he was demobilised from the Ceylon Light Infantry at WWII in 1947? What really motivated him to win an Olympic Silver?
The 'Lion' that was taken away from Duncan
Born in Kaluthara to many siblings who were also good at sports like Hockey and Athletics, Duncan was a brilliant sportsman in his days at Trinity College, Kandy, in which he was not only an athlete but was also a Rugby player who played the 'Bradby' a decade before the Trophy was introduced.
Despite being Trinity's first Lion in Athletics, especially after captaining the school for their win at the John Tarbet Championship, his 'Lion' was taken away by the school due to disciplinary reasons best known to him.
Duncan White honoured last year by Trinity College
"Hey Ceylon, you are late!"
He represented Ceylon for the first time at the 1938 British Empire Games but in the 1950 edition, he won the Gold medal at the Auckland British Empire Games, the first Ceylon athlete to win a Gold medal in any event post Independence.
Let's rewind back to when Ceylon gained Dominion Independence in 1948. Shortly after being demobilised, he was part of the first contingent to participate in the Olympics as the flag bearer. Now here's what happened at the starting block.
This story is originally reported by K.L.F. Wijesdasa along with the other stories about Duncan White that are used as sources. The story goes that while he was hammering the nails on his starting block, just before the Men's 400m Finals, an unnamed competitor shouted "Hey Ceylon, you are late!"
Duncan turned back to say "shut up" and accidentally hit his finger under the hammer. Despite all of the chatter and a minor injury, Duncan fueled with determination and once again, with less than 4 months of training, finished second place in the Men's 400m Hurdles, only behind Roy Cochran from USA while both of them ran faster than the previous Olympic record.
As you can see in this video by NOCSL, it was a historic moment for Ceylon as they won their first ever Olympic medal, on Olympic debut!
The Return of the 'Lion'
Returning back to Ceylon, Duncan White was greeted with grandiosity, but the most heartwarming one was by his Alma Mater. Despite leaving Trinity College a decade ago, he got back his 'Lion' during a special ceremony for which he said that valued more than his Olympic medal.
Post retirement from Athletics, he became a Physical Education Lecturer, coach and University Lecturer at the University of Nigeria. He was honoured with the title of MBE and on the 50th anniversary of winning the Olympic Silver, he was honoured with the title of 'Deshamanya' by Her Excellency the President.
A father of 6 children, he passed away at the age of 80 in 1998, with an undying legacy in England. A lesson taken from that incident at the starting block is to never let the words of others distract you from what you are capable of, even if it means running faster!
