Deshabandu Deshabandhu (; ) is the third highest Sri Lankan honours system, national honour awarded in Sri Lanka. It is awarded "for meritorious service". The title is held by no more than 150 living holders at any time. It is conferred with a citation and ...

Julian Bolling (born 19 June 1966) is a

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

n medal-winning

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

who represented his country at numerous international competitions. He is fondly remembered as the poster boy of Sri Lankan swimming in the 1980s. He won 15 gold medals for Sri Lanka at the

South Asian Games The South Asian Games is a quadrennial multi-sport event held among athletes from South Asia. The South Asia Olympic Council, which was formed in 1983, governs it. The Games consist of seven countries, namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, N ...

between

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

and

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

. He also represented Sri Lanka at three Olympic Games, firstly at

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

(USA) in 1984, then at

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

(South Korea) in 1988, and finally at

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

(Spain) in 1992. He was the first Sri Lankan to participate in three consecutive Olympics (1984, 1988 and 1992).

Biography

He is the son of Tara Bolling and cousin of Dipika Chanmugam, both of whom have represented Sri Lanka internationally. His mother and coach Tara Bolling née De Saram was a standout swimmer in the latter half of the 1960s represented Ceylon at the Tokyo Olympics. He was coached by his mother from 1982. His grandfather Fredrick de Saram was a cricketer and infamous for having led the attempted military coup of 1962.

Career

He took up swimming while pursuing his education at Royal College and he first took part in an age group meet in India in 1979 which was his first major international exposure. He proved his mettle and stamped his authority with his two elder brothers Jeromy Bolling and David Bolling in the 1979 Indo-Sri Lankan-Bangladesh Swimming Triangular Meet. At Royal College, he was coached by G. A. Wilson from 1977 to 1982. He made his

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years for athletes of Asia. The Games were regulated by Asian Games Federation from the 1951 Asian Games, first Games in New Delhi, India in 1951, until ...

debut during the

1982 Asian Games The 9th Asian Games (), also known as Delhi 1982 (), were held from 19 November to 4 December 1982, in Delhi, India. 74 Asian and Asian Games records were broken at the event. This was also the first Asiad to be held under the aegis of the Olymp ...

and gained sixth-place finishes in both men's 400m and 1500m freestyle events while securing a seventh-place finish in the men's 400m individual medley event. He also competed at the

1986 Asian Games The 1986 Asian Games (), officially known as the 10th Asian Games and the X Asiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1986 (), were held from 20 September to 5 October 1986, in Seoul, South Korea. The venues and facilities of the 10th Asiad were the sa ...

. He graduated from the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

and with a marketing degree from the Clarion University in the US when he was on a scholarship in the USA. He returned to Sri Lanka in 1992 and worked in American Express Bank for a brief stint before switching to Nestles. Bolling's best performance at an international meet was at the

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

where he won six gold medals. He was dubbed as South Asia's best swimmer following his medal galore at 1991 South Asian Games. Bolling claimed gold medals in men's 200 m freestyle, 400m freestyle, 1500m freestyle, 200m butterfly, freestyle relay and 400m individual medley events during the 1991 South Asian Federation Games. It was revealed that he wanted to quit swimming altogether just two weeks prior to the 1991 South Asian Games, the event later turned out to be a great comeback for him personally amid all odds. He felt he had not enjoyed the sport due to undue pressure on him according to the level of expectations that the country had on him to win medals. His mother Tara managed to convince him to pursue the sport of swimming by giving him confidence. He also took water polo as a side hustle and competed in a water polo event held in Kolkata in November 1992 just after returning from Barcelona following the conclusion of the Summer Olympics. He also took part in an Asian waterpolo tournament in Thailand. His record for most gold medals in a single South Asian Games event was unbeaten until 2016 when Matthew Abeysinghe broke the record by winning seven golds in India. Bolling was honoured in 1988 by being awarded the

, which is the third-highest national honour awarded in Sri Lanka. He worked as a coach of Rainbow Aquatic Club and was also appointed as a member of the National Sports Council. In January 2022, he was elected as one of the committee members of the Sri Lanka Olympians.

Activism

In June 2022, he along with Transparency International Sri Lanka filed petition in the Supreme Court calling for stern action against 13 individuals claiming to be directly responsible for the economic crisis in Sri Lanka. On 17 August 2022, he was summoned to the Criminal Investigation Department (Sri Lanka) in order to record statements regarding his involvement in mass anti-government protests on 9 July 2022.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bolling, Julian 1966 births Living people Sri Lankan male swimmers Olympic swimmers for Sri Lanka Swimmers at the 1984 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Asian Games competitors for Sri Lanka Swimmers at the 1982 Asian Games Swimmers at the 1986 Asian Games South Asian Games gold medalists for Sri Lanka South Asian Games medalists in swimming Medalists at the 1991 South Asian Games Swimmers from Colombo Deshabandu