Sri Lanka at the Olympics
The small South Asian nation of Sri Lanka first competed at the Summer Olympic Games in 1948, and has sent athletes to all Games since then except for the 1976 edition. From their first appearance at the Games until 1976, they competed under their former name of Ceylon.
The Sri Lanka’s National Olympic Committee was established in 1937 and was acknowledged by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in that the same year. The country was assigned the country code CEY until 1972.
Sri Lanka already has won a couple of medals (both silver) in track and field competition at the Olympics. Duncan White became the first-ever Sri Lankan to win a medal at the Olympics as he captured the silver medal in the men’s 400-m run event in athletics at the 1948 London Summer Olympic Games. Susanthika Jayasinghe won the nation’s second medal at the Olympics 52 years later by bagging the silver medal in the women’s 200-m even in athletics at the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics. Jayasinghe’s also became the nation’s first female Olympic medalist.
In the Rio Olympic Games the nation sent nine athletes and competed in six sports. Anuradha Cooray emerged as the best Sri Lankan athlete in the Olympiad as he ended up at 34th place in the men’s marathon.
Related Pages
- List of all countries that have participated at the Olympic Games.
- About sport in Sri Lanka
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