Everything about Duncan White totally explained
Duncan White MBE (born
March 1,
1918 in
Lathpandura – died
July 3 1998 in
Warwickshire) was the first
Sri Lankan 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.
White was born on
March 1,
1918 in Lathpandura near
Kalutara, in the then British-ruled
Ceylon, the second of four children of John Bernard White and Cecilia Hawk White. 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'Trinity Lion' for athletics; this was subsequently withdrawn from him due to minor disciplinary reasons.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 died in
1998 in
Warwickshire,
England.
White was married to Angela White née Siebel, and had six children: Nita, Marylene, Fiona, Dan, Maxine and Chris. He had three brothers, Frederick A. White, also an athlete, Stanley Leonard White and Douglas Andrew White (died 1960).
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