SSC
Who was the first athlete to win an Olympic medal for Sri Lanka (then Ceylon)?
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Answer: Option D — Duncan White
Detailed Solution
Duncan White won the silver medal in the men's 400 m hurdles at the 1948 London Olympics, representing Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). It was the first Olympic medal ever won by Sri Lanka, and it came just months after Ceylon gained independence from Britain in February 1948.
More about Duncan White (1918-1998):
- He was born in Ceylon and studied at Trinity College, Kandy.
- In the 1948 final, he finished second behind Roy Cochran of the USA, setting a new Olympic record for himself.
- He also won the gold medal in the 440 yards hurdles at the 1950 British Empire Games in Auckland, New Zealand.
- He is honoured in Sri Lanka as a national sporting hero.
Sri Lanka's Olympic medals:
Sri Lanka has won only two Olympic medals:
1948 London: Duncan White, silver, 400 m hurdles.
2000 Sydney: Susanthika Jayasinghe, women's 200 m. She originally won bronze, but was later upgraded to silver after Marion Jones of the USA was disqualified for doping.
Other South Asian Olympic "firsts":
India: first individual Olympic medal after independence was K. D. Jadhav's wrestling bronze (1952). The first Olympic gold for India came in hockey in 1928.
Pakistan: first Olympic medal was a silver in hockey (1956).
Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and the Maldives have not yet won an Olympic medal.
Sri Lanka in sport:
Sri Lanka's national sport is volleyball, but cricket is by far the most popular; Sri Lanka won the 1996 ODI World Cup and the 2014 T20 World Cup.
Why not the other options?
- ✗Susanthika Jayasinghe won Sri Lanka's second Olympic medal, in 2000.
- ✗Julian Bolling is a Sri Lankan swimmer who competed at several Olympics without a medal.
- ✗Sriyani Kulawansa is a Sri Lankan hurdler who won Asian medals but not an Olympic medal.
Quick tip
Remember: Sri Lanka's first Olympic medal = Duncan White (silver, 400 m hurdles, London 1948); second = Susanthika Jayasinghe (200 m, Sydney 2000).
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Sports — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Sports, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers sports GK: major tournaments and their venues, trophies and cups associated with each sport, sports terms, the number of players in a team, sports awards in India, Olympic and Asian Games facts, and famous sportspersons and their achievements. Common questions ask which sport a trophy belongs to (such as the Durand Cup for football or the Ranji Trophy for cricket), which term is used in which sport, and where a tournament was held. Records and results change after every season, so pair static facts such as team sizes and terms with recent results from current affairs. Practise the sports questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.