Seen in the picture above are Duncan White, Lakshman Kadirgamar, M.A.M. Sherrif and Oscar Wijesinghe, representing the four communities (Burgher, Tamil, Muslim, Sinhalese), who had brought four scrolls to the Independence square on 4th February 1948 to be handed over to the Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake to read for the public.
It was in the same year Sri Lanka made her début at the XIV Olympic Games in London where in the final of the 400m Hurdles Duncan White, though beaten by Roy Cochran of USA to second place, lowered the existing Olympic record skimming over the hurdles in 51.8 secs. Thus getting the first medal to Independent Sri Lanka at an international sporting event. Read more about White at: Duncan White, the first athlete to win an Olympic medal for Sri Lanka
Lakshman Kadirgamar who is considered one of the most successful foreign ministers Sri Lanka was also an Athletic Champion! Kadirgamar won the 110m Hurdles event at the Public Schools Meet and later won the Nationals in 1951. At the All India and Ceylon Inter University Athletic Meet he again won the above event.
Both Duncan White and Lakshman Kadirgamar, being old boys of Trinity, bagged many achievements during their school careers and showcased the true qualities of a Trinitian, leading Sri Lanka in their fields and making a positive difference to the country and to the world. We are truly honoured to have had such personalities and we hope to see more in the future to come!
We thank The Ceylon Daily News for capturing the picture (above) and The Island for posting information about this historic event.
