Duncan White

Duncan White (born March 1, 1918 in Lathpandura near Kalutara , Ceylon , † July 3, 1998 in Nuneaton , England ) was a Sri Lankan athlete. He won the silver medal in the 400-meter hurdles at the 1948 Olympic Games .

White was born the second of four children in the British colony of Ceylon. He attended Trinity College in Kandy and was already one of the best athletes there.

Ceylon gained independence on February 4, 1948. At the end of July 1948, Duncan White represented his country as one of seven athletes at the Olympic Games in London. After he had won his preliminary run in 53.6 seconds, he qualified in the semifinals with 52.1 seconds in third for the final. The American Roy Cochran won the final in 51.1 seconds, followed by Duncan White in second place with a personal best of 51.8 seconds. In 1949 White was honored with the Order of MBE . At the British Empire Games in Auckland in 1950 , White won the hurdles over 440 yards in 52.5 seconds. He also appeared as the final runner in both seasons and finished fourth.

Duncan White won the first Olympic medal for Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) half a year after independence, then 52 years passed until Susanthika Jayasinghe won the second Olympic medal for Sri Lanka in 2000 (bronze in the 200-meter run ) . Duncan White was married, the couple lived in England and had six children. In 1988 he was honored with a stamp in Sri Lanka. In 1998 he received the Deshamanya Award .

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede: The Modern Olympic Century 1896-1996 Track and Field Athletics . Berlin 1999, published by the German Society for Athletics Documentation eV

Web links

• Duncan White in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )