Sailor Ray Wijewardene beat the Olympic champion in 1966

Ray Wijewardane

Ray Philip Wijewardene who participated in the yachting contests at the Olympics in Mexico in 1968 was a super sporting star to emerge from Sri Lanka.

Ray entered the Hong Kong International Yachting Meet in 1966 in a yacht which he borrowed for this purpose and managed to secure the third place.

This was a tremendous achievement considering the fact that there were several top competitors at this meet including the National champion of America and the Olympic champion Chuck Miller and the North Euro champion from Germany Olli Jerullal.

In addition, competitors from Britain, Holland, Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, Hong Kong and 12 other countries participated in this event with their contestants bringing yachts from their own countries.

However, Ray performed extremely well to secure the third place despite the heavy odds against him with Chuck Moller of America claiming the first place and Germany’s Olli Jerullal taking the second place. It was revealed after the completion of the contest that Ray was handicapped because of a damaged steering gear in his machine.

Thereafter, at the Far East International Yachting contest held in Bangkok, Thailand Ray was placed third.

Since these achievements were made close upon the Olympics to be held in Mexico and because he had even defeated the Olympic Champions in these events, the Sri Lanka Olympic and Commonwealth Games Federation decided to send Ray for the Mexico Olympics.

At the Olympics in 1968, he was placed 29th among 36 contestants. At the Olympics he had contested in the fin class and from among Asian competitors Ray was the best.

Even after this he participated in different water sports in Sri Lanka. He was successful in winning the Lipton Trophy in 1972.

He also participated at the 1970 Asian Games and won a Silver Medal while competing in the Enterprise Class event.

Ray who has a BSC (Agriculture) Degree from the Cambridge University later left the island to work as the Head of the Agricultural Research Division in Nigeria.

He later obtained a PhD in agriculture. Having returned from Nigeria on completion of his assignment, Ray served as Chairman of several companies including Walkers Limited.

Ray also became the Chancellor of the Moratuwa University and was bestowed with the Deshamanya Vidya Jyothi Ray Wijewardene passed away on August 18, 2010 in Colombo at the age of 85. (C.D)