Ranatunge Karunananda (21 May 1936 – 15 December 1974) was a
Sri Lankan athlete. He was a
long distance runner
Long may refer to:
Measurement
* Long, characteristic of something of great duration
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and represented
Sri Lanka during the 1960s and 70s. He is widely regarded as the most spirited loser in the history of the Olympic Games, for what he accomplished at the
1964 Summer Olympics in
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...
.
1964 Olympics
Karunananda represented
Ceylon (as
Sri Lanka was named at the time) in the
1964 Summer Olympics Men’s 5000 meters and
Men’s 10,000 meters competitions. In the 10,000 meter race, Karunananda was soon overtaken by the leading athletes and was lapped four times when the winner,
Billy Mills
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of the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, broke the tape to finish the race. Karunananda continued to run after the others had finished the race. Spectators first started to jeer at him. But when he came around a second time, there was silence. Finally he finished the race amid cheers and applause.
Legacy
Japanese
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* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
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** Japanese diaspor ...
reporter Haruo Suzuki was one of the first reporters to have an interview with Karunananda following the race. Instantly,
Japanese media
The mass media in Japan include numerous television and radio networks as well as newspapers and magazines in Japan. For the most part, television networks were established based on capital investments by existing radio networks. Variety shows, ...
started to acclaim Karunananda as a hero. When questioned, Karunananda told reporters: "The Olympic spirit is not to win, but to take part. So I came here. I took part in the 10,000 metres and completed my rounds."
Karunananda's Olympic story has been entered into
Japanese school textbooks titled 'Uniform Number 67', 'Bottom Ranked Hero'.
Death
In 1974, Karunananda had been offered a job in
Japan in appreciation of his deed. A few days before leaving
Sri Lanka, however, Karunananda mysteriously died, drowning in the Namal Oya tank. Some theories say that he just disappeared.
Karunananda’s wife suffered a mental breakdown following her husband’s death and the family was forced onto the streets. Later, one of the relatives offered to fund and take care of his family. The Sri Lankan government did not acknowledge his legacy or look after his family.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Karunananda, Ranatunge
1936 births
1974 deaths
Sri Lankan male long-distance runners
Olympic athletes of Sri Lanka
Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics