XXXth summer Olympics unveils in London on Friday:

World's GREATEST READY for action

Dinesh WEERAWANSA

It's time for the world's greatest sports extravaganza which unveils its 30th edition in the British capital of London on Friday (27). The excitement, enthusiasm and the performances of the highest order that is generated at Olympics easily makes it the most looked forward to sports event in the world.

Niluka Karunarathne

Thilini Jayasinghe

Reshini Udugampola

Sonali Christine Merril

Anuradha Indrajith Cooray

Mangala Samarakoon

Heshan Unamboowe

The first ever modern summer Olympic Games was held way back in 1896 in the Greek capital of Athens. Since then, the Olympic Games have come a long way, increasing its popularity, participation, performance, quality and fund generation.

Making it to Olympic Games is the dream of any sportsman or sportswoman. However, it is a dream that could not be achieved easily. Becoming an Olympic champion is even more difficult. There are no short cuts to fulfill such cherished dreams. Hard work, dedication, sacrifice, devotion and determination are vital ingredients of a successful recipe that makes an Olympic champion.

Sri Lanka has produced only two medallists in the 116-year-old history of modern Olympic Games. Sri Lanka's first ever Olympic medallist was found some 52 years after the first Olympiad. Duncan White bagged men's 400m hurdles silver medal at the 1948 London Olympic Games.

Incidentally, it took another 52 years for Sri Lanka to produce its second Olympic medallist. Sprinter Susanthika Jayasinghe finished third in women's 200m final of the Sydney 2000 Games in Australia. Her bronze medal was later elevated to a silver after American Marion Jones was stripped off her gold medal after being found guilty for performance enhancing drugs.

If one is to go by this sequence of a medal once in 52 years for Sri Lanka, it may be in 2052 that Sri Lanka could win its third Olympic medal. But if Sri Lanka makes an effort and make an investment for the future with a concrete plan, Sri Lanka could well break that hoodoo and produce its first ever gold medallist sooner than later.

But that looks an Hurculine task this time around as Sri Lanka fields a seven-member contingent for the XXXth Olympiad in London. The Lankan contingent has two members who have previously represented Sri Lanka at Olympic Games. Marathon runner Anuradha Indrajith Cooray, who ran for Sri Lanka at the Athens 2004 Games, is the senior most member in the Lankan contingent.

Besides Cooray, the only other previous Olympian in the Sri Lanka contingent is former Sri Lanka women's singles badminton champion Thilini Jayasinghe, who qualified to play in London on the eleventh hour. In 2008, she became the first ever woman shuttler to represent Sri Lanka in the history of the Olympic Games.

But the Lankan contingent will be led by shuttler Niluka Karunaratne. He is one of the first to qualify for London Olympics from Sri Lanka and will join the team from the British capital after a training cum competition stint. Karunaratne has been Sri Lanka's undisputed men's single national champion for nearly a decade and has been going great guns. A product of Royal College, Karunaratne has never been troubled in the local arena ever since his entry to the sport.

Apart from Karunaratne, Cooray and Jayasinghe, the only other Sri Lankan to qualify for London Olympics is rifle shooter Mangala Samarakoon. Three others - athlete Sonali Christine Merril, swimmers Heshan Unamboowe and Reshini Udugampola have made it to the London Olympics on universal placing system in swimming and as a wild card entry.

But the US-based Lankan hurdler richly deserves a place in the contingent after her dream debut for her native Sri Lanka at the 2011 Asian Championships in Japan. Competing for Sri Lanka in women's 400m hurdles in Kobe last year, Merril bagged the bronze medal in her pet event at the Asian Championships.

It will be interesting to see how swimmers Unamboowe and Udugampola fare in London as the due are making a determined effort to improve on their personal best o establish new Sri Lanka records. Both of them have been based in Melbourne, Australia on training stints. Based on their performances at the last FINA World Championships, Unamboowe and Udugampola have earned places on FINA universal placing system which replaced the old wildcard system. It will be a tall order if Sri Lanka expects any of these Olympians to emulate the feats of White and Jayasinghe. However, they seven Lankan Olympics to the latest Olympic Games could certainly make their presence felt in London. If all of them could come out with their personal best performance, that alone would be a creditable achievements for Sri Lanka.

But hurdler Merril stands a good chance of making it at least to the second round of her pet event, provided that she comes out with a vastly improved performance. She is an athlete with great potential and courage who could go places but Olympics will certainly be a big asking from her. If shuttlers arunaratne and Jayasinghe could at least make it to the second round of their respective men's and women's singles events, Sri Lanka could at least be happy though an Olympic medal will definitely be a gigantic task. Similarly, swimmers Unamboowe and Udugmpola must make full use of the experience they gained in Melbourne to enter at least the second rounds of their events.

Much is expected from shooter Samarakoon and marathon runner Cooray whose brilliant individual performance this season have earned them places for the London Olympics purely on merit. More importantly, Cooray's qualification to compete once more, eight years after his Olympic debut in Athens 2004, is a praiseworthy achievement. He must now make full use of the opportunity to come out with an even better performance than his mark at the 2012 London Marathon a couple of months ago.

Ups and downs of champions has been quite common at Olympics. But losing defending men's singles tennis champion even before his arrival in London for the Games looked a big disappointment. The Beijing 2008 gold medallist Rafael Nadal pulled out of the London 2012 Games with an undisclosed fitness problem just a week away from the opening ceremony scheduled for next Friday.

"I am not in condition to compete in the London Olympics and therefore will not travel as planned with the Spanish delegation to take part in the games," the third-ranked Spaniard tennis star said in a statement. However, Nadal has not given any specific injury for his withdrawal, which came after he pulled out of a charity match scheduled to be played in Madrid earlier this month due to a tendon problems in his left knee. His career has been affected with recurring knee problems and has been out of action since his second round elimination to then 100th-ranked Lukas Rosol at the recent Wimbledon Championships.

Nadal's withdrawal means that Spain will have to find a new flag bearer for Friday's opening ceremony as he was to lead the contingent from Madrid. He has regretted for losing that golden opportunity. "It was one of the saddest days of my career as one of my biggest ambitions, that of being Spain's flag bearer in the opening ceremony of the Games in London, cannot be. You can imagine how difficult it was to take this decision," he was quoted as saying. Nevertheless, in the absence of Nadal, the London 2012 will crown a new men's singles champion.

That is what the Games is all about. However, winning and losing is a part of the Games and what matters is the most is to become an Olympian and enjoy the rich traditions that are exclusively for the world' greatest sporting event.

London 2012 Games will definitely be another treat to watch and would dish out some exciting and memorable moments in world sport.