Deshabandu Kameradin Susanthika Jayasinghe[2] (Sinhala: සුසන්තිකා ජයසිංහ; Tamil: சுசந்திகா ஜயசிங்ஹ, born December 17, 1975) is a Sri Lankan retired sprinter, who specialised in the 100 and 200 metres.
She became a victim of politics during the peak of her career as many politicians and sports officials attempted to take credit for her medal achievements despite not supporting her prior to competing at the events.
[8] She was embroiled in political controversies including a series of false doping allegations, standoff with politicians, seven year old murder trials against her former spouse and sexual harassment.
[11] She was brought up in a poor family in a small village 60 kilometres north of Colombo, where running spikes cost more than the average month's wage, she had no access to proper sports equipment or coaches.
[12] Her father who served as a bus driver at the Ceylon Transport Board had eventually lost his job by the time she was born.
[17] She rose to prominence at the age of 18 after claiming a gold in 200m and a silver in 100m events during the 1994 Asian Junior Championships which was held in Jakarta.
[19] She made her South Asian Games debut at the age of 15 during the 1995 edition and claimed gold medals in 100m and 200m sprint events.
She even auctioned and sold out all her trophies in order to raise adequate funds to buy tickets with the intention of training in the USA prior to the Sydney Olympics.
Notably, she competed in her first track event at the home soil after a gap of 2 years as she was sidelined for several months after sustaining a hamstring injury.
She also went onto claim gold medals in both 100m and 200m events at the 2000 National Sports Festival in her comeback return to the field after successfully recovering from a hamstring injury which ruled her out for several months.
[25][26] Jayasinghe was suspended from competition in April 1998 for failing a drug test that she claimed was rigged because of her political beliefs and a falling out with a Sports Ministry official.
[29] During a press conference for the women's 200m medalists at the 2000 Olympics, when asked whether her country would be proud of her, she said in a quiet voice: "I can't explain.
[31] The television program where Susie made her allegations against S. B. Dissanayake which was aired on TNL TV was suspended after the involvement of powerful politicians.
[32] She then went on to speak of officials coming to her house, giving her a drug test and refusing to seal the urine specimen with her watching.
[33] After returning home with her Olympic medal she was attacked by a male athlete because, she believed, she had been supporting former government members in an election campaign.
It was believed that she reportedly wore a yellow ribbon around her wrist during the 2000 Summer Olympics women's 200m final and also during the medal ceremony in a show of support for a political movement.
In May 2001, she also underwent a four-month training stint from American coach Tony Campbell before competing at the 2001 World Athletics Championships.
[51][52] Jayasinghe contested the 2010 general election from the Kegalle district from the United People's Freedom Alliance, however failed to secure a seat.