Hemasiri, the man behind ‘Olympic House’

Richard Dwight

Every now and then, not frequently though, there comes along a man, who with the minimum of resources available does something big and exquisite, for the greater cause and common good.

One such man as this, who comes swiftly to mind, is none other than the mild mannered, unassuming Hemasiri Fernando, President of the National Olympic Committee.

Sanguine Approach

Unobtrusive and virtuous as he is and, blessed with a suave sanguine approach, he strove single handedly for the most part to transform a bare piece of land at Independence Square, to a magnificent four storeyed building that is now spoken of with pride as ‘Olympic House.’

We must not lose sight of the fact that in those earlier years the NOC was greatly inconvenienced by not having a proper office, a lack of furniture nor a bicycle to be used in the delivering of letters.

But all this was in the distant past, for in the recent decade with Hemasiri Fernando at one time NOC’s Vice President and thereafter its President, a meaningful change for the good of the NOC, in the fostering and promotion of sport began to unfold.

Enthusiastic Hemasiri, with deep commitment, skilfully impressed upon the then Sports Minister, Jeevan Kumaratunga, the need for a spot of land for the NOC.

This did result in a cabinet paper, whereby at a subsequent meeting of the cabinet, a piece of land was granted at the Sports Ministry, at Independence Square. It’s on this land that the aforesaid impressive ‘Olympic House’ now stands.

Auditorium

To make it as pleasant as possible, with a congenial ambience ‘Olympic House’ has an auditorium made for comfort, spacious committee as well as conference rooms, a fitness centre along with sophisticated state-of-the-art equipment and furniture, not forgetting the vehicles too.

There is also space set apart for a library, museum and a restaurant. All this and more does provide a conducive atmosphere, for the 66 members or the 22 executive committee members drawn from the 66 National Sports Associations affiliated with the NOC, as and when they meet.

The ‘Olympic House’ does stand as a silent sentinel, a testament to the administrative ability and the adherence to strict financial controls by the committee, as steered by the President Hemasiri Fernando.

It’s therefore meet and right for us to dwell briefly on Hemasiri - where we find on graduating from the Colombo University, he served as Secretary to Prime Minister Sirimavo Banaranaike, and thereafter was Chairman at different times of four Government institutions. in the field of sports administration, he has held high positions of responsibility in the rifle and Archery Associations.

President

He continues to serve as the Vice President and President of the Archery Association and the Colombo Archery Club respectively. Hemasiri carries on as a member of the National Selection Committee and is the incumbent President of the National Olympic Committee.

On the International level he has done well to be the first Sri Lankan to be elected as regional Vice President of the Commonwealth Games Federation, the first Sri Lankan to be elected to the Association of Portuguese speaking NOC (ACOLOP) and a member of the executive Board of the Olympic Council of Asia, not to mention his being Chef de mission of the Sri Lanka contingent at the South Asian Games and his being joint Chairman of the Organising Committee of the 10th South Asian Games and the Organising Committee of the Commonwealth Games Federation General Assembly meeting in Colombo.

Sportsman

As a sportsman he excelled at cricket, soccer and athletics for the Colombo University and, the national champion in Rifle shooting in 1981, 82 and 84. The sportsman of the year in 1982 and 84 as adjudged by the Sri Lanka Navy Sports Board.

Quite a wide array of achievements as an administrator and sportsman, which must have stood him in good stead, for we reliably learn, to be nominated to the ICC to serve as tournament Director for the 2011 World Cup Cricket matches, that would be played here.

Be that as it may this year is going to be an important year for the Ministry of Sports and the NOC in that Sri Lanka would be participating in 5 international multi disciplines they are the (a) Asian Martial Art Games from the 25th April to 3rd May in Bangkok (b) the first Asian Youth Games 2009 from 29th June to July 7 at Singapore (c). The Second Lusfonia Games 2009 from 11-19 July in Portugal (d) The third Asian Indoor Games 2009 in October at Hanoi, Vietnam and (e) the eleventh Asian Games 2009 in December at Dhaka, Bangladesh.

But by far above all his achievements, that which would stand out with the future in mind and the many who will benefit in the years to come, will be the coming to be of the ‘Olympic House’, which could be regarded as his ‘Magnum Opus.’