S. L. B. Rosa was the ‘King’ of long-distance runners in Asia

S. L. B. Rosa

Sellappuliyage Lucian Benedict Rosa better known as S. L. B. Rosa was the captain of the Sri Lanka Team for the Munich Olympic Games in 1972.

He attended St. Mary’s School in Nawalapitiya up to Grade Two and later, he joined the Roman Catholic School in Ampitiya, Kandy. At school be showed interest in football. As part of his practice routine be used to run a mile every day. This improved his qualities of endurance and the Principal of his school, C. T. Weerasinghe, observing this quality diverted his attention to long distance running.

From 1960 to 1963 be registered several victories in various Inter-School Track and Field Meets. In 1963, he started his career as a soldier, in the Field Engineering Unit at the Sri Lanka Army.

He registered his first major victory in 1965 at the National Athletics Championships when he beat the 1964 Olympic representative, R. J. K. Karunananda into second place in the 5,000m. Rosa also improved the record of 14.56.8s set up by Karunananda for this event by registering a time of 14.26.0s.

In 1966, he easily won the long-distance events at the Army Meet and won the 5,000m event once again at the National Athletics Championship.

These victories earned him a place in the Sri Lanka Team for the Asian Games that year. At the Asian Game he won two Bronze Medals by registering times of 14.56.0s for the 5,000m and 31.06.04s for the 10,000m.

The year 1967 was another milestone in his career. At the Nationals that year, he beat the Indian champion Kripal Singh in the 5,000m and won the Athlete of the Year Award by setting up a new record.

In addition, he won the prestigious awards such as the Wilton Bartleet Cup, Duncan White Cup and the Governor-General’s Cup. The year 1968 brought him much success in his sports career.

This year he left the Army to join the Ceylon Transport Board and at several international athletic meets held this year, he won as much as nine Gold Medals. In some of these events he set up new National records. In 1967, Rosa also participated in the National Athletics Championships of Singapore.

Athletes from Malaysia, Thailand, and Hong Kong participated in this meet. Rosa won both the 5,000m and the 10,000m events setting up new records. With these Medals, his Gold Medals tally at international meets totalled 11 and together with the two medals he won at the Asian Games, it was 13.

With his experience at these international meets behind him, he participated in the Asian Games held in Bangkok, Thailand in 1970. This was his crowning glory. He won the 5,000m event in a time of 14m 32.2s and the 10,000m with a new record time of 29m 55.6s.

His performances at these two races earned him such accolades as the ‘Golden Boy of Athletics’ and ‘King of Long-Distance Runners in Asia.’ This was the first occasion when a Sri Lankan had won two Gold Medals at the same meet. He represented Sri Lanka at the Munich Olympic Games in 1972 while studying in America but could only gain the 16th place in the second heat of the 10,000m race registering a time of 30m 20.2s. (C.D)