From left: Edward Gray, Albert
Perera, Duncan White, John De Saram, Mr. Perera (Team manager), George Peiris,
Leslie Handunge and Alex Obeysekere.
Duncan White was 28
years old when he won the 1948 Olympic silver medal in the 400m hurdles. He was
most probably past his physical prime at that time.
Would
he have performed better at the 1944 Olympics when he was 24 years old? Sadly
WW2 put an end to that!
Duncan
White, MBE (1 March 1918 – 3 July 1998) was the first Ceylonese athlete to win
a medal for his country in an Olympic event. He won a silver in the 400-metre
hurdles at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, England. He was also the only
South Asian to have won an Olympic medal in track and field for more than fifty
years.
White
was born on 1 March 1918 in Lathpandura near Kalutara, in British Ceylon, the
second of four children of John Bernard White and Cecilia Hawk White, descended
from principally British lineage. He was educated at Trinity College, Kandy
where he was awarded 'Trinity Lion' for athletics; this was subsequently
withdrawn from him due to minor disciplinary reasons. White won his Olympic
medal the same year Ceylon gained independence from Britain. He had trained for
only about 3 months before the games while the gold medalist, Roy Cochran of
the USA, had trained for about 4 years. White's time for the event, 51.8
seconds, was only 0.7 seconds behind Cochran, which along with Cochran's time
bettered the existing Olympic record.
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.
In
the 1950 British Empire Games in Auckland, New Zealand, White won the 440-yard
hurdles, only 0.3 seconds behind the world record.He
was awarded the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1949 but only many years
later in 1988 was he honored by his Sri Lankan homeland by a postage stamp.
White
was married to Angela White née Siebel and had six children: Maxine, Nita,
Christopher, Daniel, Marilyn and Fiona. He had three brothers, Frederick A.
White, also an athlete, Stanley Leonard White and Douglas Andrew White (died
1960). He was a Major in the Ceylon Army Volunteer Force.
Link
to a video of Duncan White of Ceylon winning Gold at the 1950 Empire Games. in
Auckland, New Zealand
