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White who started the spark – By Rear Admiral Dr. Shemal Fernando PhD   Source: Sunday Observer An iconic moment: A determined Duncan White fixing his starting blocks at the London 1948 Olympic Games 400m Hurdles final Duncan White: First Sri Lankan Olympic Medalist and First Athlete to witness Raising of the National Flag to the Crescendo of the National Anthem Having been a close observer and student of the world’s most beautiful sport of athletics for fifty years, my effort is to make a justification to the enormous impact, prestige and influence made by Sri Lanka’s inimitable athlete, Duncan White who put our country on the world map. I thought the ideal time for such an exertion is the run up to an Olympic Games. Athletics is complex and wonderfully varied, but it also embodies passion, hard work and self-improvement. Athletics is education and entertainment, respect for the rules ...