Sports Minister gets tough on ’s medal sale

By Uditha Jayasinghe 

The relationship between Olympic medalist Susanthika Jayasinghe and sports officials took a new turn yesterday with Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara expressing his willingness to buy her silver medal to display it at the Ministry and threatening to bring fresh laws to prevent athletes selling their medals in the future. 

Jayasekera, in his capacity as Cabinet spokesman, responding to allegations levelled by Jayasinghe that she did not receive government support, insisted that the former Olympian had received assistance numerous times from different government departments and ministries. He further pointed out that Jayasinghe had failed to meet the stipulations set out by the Ministry when she was appointed as an advisor but despite this there had been no curtailment of payments made to her. 

“I went before the Cabinet and received approval to appoint her as an adviser to the Ministry. She was tasked with monitoring 316 schools and advising their existing teachers on how to improve their training and pick promising children for national pools. As part of this she has to submit monthly reports on her work and give annual reports on her plans but neither of these was done. As an adviser to the Ministry she is a public servant and she cannot disregard these obligations. It is also untrue and unfair of her to go about accusing the Sports Ministry of not attempting to assist her,” he said. 

The post came with a Rs. 60,000 monthly salary and Jayasinghe was being paid an additional Rs. 60,000 by the military for training. The Sports Minister also claimed that the Government at various points had paid the former athlete’s medical bills and had even sent her a helicopter once. Jayasekera compared Jayasinghe’s conduct with other premier athletes such as Damayanthi Darsha and Sugath Thilakeratne and questioned why these accusations repeatedly stem from only Jayasinghe. 

“We even gave her Rs. 1.1 million to start a training facility. But nothing has come of these.” 

He also queried as to why Jayasinghe had not worked to get her coaching licence, which together with her Olympic medal would have given her impressive coaching opportunities. The Minister insisted that he had encouraged her to pursue the option and was considering giving public funds for coaches willing to climb up the ranks. 

“We need well trained coaches. But Susanthika Jayasinghe had not made the most of the opportunities given to her. That is not our fault. Now she goes around saying she will auction her medal. If she doesn’t want the medal then we will buy it from her and keep it at the Ministry. The medal is a symbol of national pride. Athletes cannot be allowed to use them as bargaining chips when they were won by representing the entire nation. We as a Government and country have invested in her.” 

Jayasekera also went on to warn that he would bring in legislation to make future medals the property of the State to prevent their sale by athletes.