Nimali Waliwarsha Konda Liyanarachchi (born 19 September 1989) 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 800 m runner and current national record holder in women's 1500m event. She is also believed to be the first Sri Lankan woman to have competed in steeplechase events. She became the first Sri Lankan woman to complete the distance of 3000 metres in steeplechase event under 11 minutes. She won the best athlete award twice at the Presidential award ceremonies by the Sports Ministry including the Most Outstanding Sportswoman of the Year in 2015. She is currently attached to

Sri Lanka Air Force The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF; ; ) is the air force, air arm and the youngest of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces. It was founded in 1951 as the Royal Ceylon Air Force (RCyAF) with the assistance of the Royal Air Force (RAF). The SLAF played a major r ...

Biography

She was born in

Hambantota Hambantota (, ) is the main city in Hambantota District, Southern Province, Sri Lanka, Southern Province, Sri Lanka. This area was hit hard by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and underwent a number of maj ...

, Sooriyaweva. She hails from a family background which involved in farming as both of her parents were farmers. She has two elder brother and one sister. Her father died when she was very young and her family faced many hardships. She studied at the Wewegama Primary School where she completed in many events.

Career

Nimali initially pursued her career in

steeplechase SteepleChase Records is a jazz record company and label based in Copenhagen, Denmark. SteepleChase was founded in 1972 by Nils Winther, who was a student at Copenhagen University at the time. He began recording concerts at Jazzhus Montmartre, ...

. However she later switched to 800m due to

gastrointestinal tract The gastrointestinal tract (GI tract, digestive tract, alimentary canal) is the tract or passageway of the Digestion, digestive system that leads from the mouth to the anus. The tract is the largest of the body's systems, after the cardiovascula ...

issues and with the recommendation of her coach. She competed at the

2013 Asian Athletics Championships The 2013 Asian Athletics Championships were the 20th edition of the biennial athletics (sport), athletics competition between Asian nations. It was held at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Balewadi, Pune, India between 3–7 July. Ar ...

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

where she finished fourth in the women's 800 meters with a timing of 2: 05.87 minutes. She represented Sri Lanka at the 2014 Commonwealth Games which also marked her maiden appearance at the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

and was eliminated from the heat in the women's 800m event after finishing at seventh position with a timing of 2:08.31 minutes. She claimed bronze medal in the women's 800m event during the

2015 Asian Athletics Championships The 21st Asian Athletics Championships was held at the Wuhan Sports Center in Wuhan, China from 3–7 June 2015.Tintu Lukka of India and Zhao Jing from China. It also became the first medal to be claimed by a Sri Lankan athlete in a 800m at an Asian Championship after 22 years since 1993. She was eliminated from the first round at the

2015 Military World Games The 2015 Military World Games (), officially known as the 6th CISM Military World Games () and also known as Mungyeong 2015 (), were hosted from October 2–11, 2015 in Mungyeong, South Korea. The games were the largest military sports event eve ...

in Mungyeong, South Korea, with 2: 10.75 minutes. She claimed a silver medal in 800m event at the

2016 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships The 2016 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships was the seventh edition of the international indoor athletics (sport), athletics event between Asian nations. It took place at the Aspire Dome in Doha, Qatar, between 19 and 21 February. Three new wome ...

in Doha with a new national record of 2: 4.88 minutes. She represented Sri Lanka at the 2016 South Asian Games which was held in

Guwahati Guwahati () the largest city of the Indian state of Assam, and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the seat of the Government of Assam. Th ...

and claimed gold medal in 800m event with a timing of 2: 09.40 minutes. She was also part of the Sri Lankan 4 × 400 meter relay which clinched silver medal after finishing with 3: 38.89 minutes. She set the then national record in women's 800m event in 2016 with a timing of 2:02.58 seconds breaking the 24 year national record held by Dhammika Menike who clocked at 2:03.05 seconds. She claimed gold medal in the women's 800m event at the

2017 Asian Athletics Championships The 2017 Asian Athletics Championships was the 22nd edition of the Asian Athletics Championships. It was held from 6 to 9 July 2017 at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, India. Bhubaneswar was the third Indian city to host Asian Championships. ...

in Bhubaneswar after finishing with a timing of 2: 05.23 minutes while incidentally her compatriot Gayanthika Abeyrathne settled for silver medal in the same event. Nimali became the first Sri Lankan to win a women's 800m title at the Asian Championships. During the same year's Asian Championships, in the women's 800m heat event the winning athlete was disqualified after Liyanarachchi argued that she had been unfairly jostled in the sprint for the line. She also competed at the

2017 World Championships in Athletics The 2017 IAAF World Championships, the sixteenth edition of the IAAF World Championships, were held from 4 to 13 August at London Stadium in London, United Kingdom. London was officially awarded the championships on 11 November 2011. Bidding p ...

in London, where she was eliminated in the preliminary round of women's 800m event after finishing with 2: 08.49 minutes. She also became the first Sri Lankan athlete to compete in women's 800m event at a

World Athletics Championships The World Athletics Championships, known as the IAAF World Championships in Athletics until 2019, are a biennial sport of athletics, athletics competition organized by World Athletics, formerly International Association of Athletics Federations ...

. The following year, she won the bronze medal behind the Chinese duo Wang Chunyu and Hu Zhiying at the

2018 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships The 2018 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships was the eighth edition of the international indoor athletics event between Asian nations. It took place at the Aftab Enghelab Complex in Tehran, Iran, between 1 and 3 February. Kazakhstan topped the m ...

in Tehran with a timing of 2:10.83 minutes. She also represented

Sri Lanka at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Sri Lanka competed at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast, Australia from April 4 to April 15, 2018. The Sri Lankan team consists of 139 members, including 80 athletes competing in 13 sports (15 disciplines). However, Sumesh Wickrama ...

in the Gold Coast and was eliminated in the heat competing in 800m event with a timing of 2: 08.52 minutes. At the

2018 Asian Games The 2018 Asian Games ( or ''Asian Games 2018''), officially known as the 18th Asian Games (), and also known as Jakarta-Palembang 2018 or Indonesia 2018, were a Asia, continental multi-sport event that was held from 18 August to 2 September 201 ...

held in

Jakarta Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...

she was eliminated after securing fourth place in the 800m heat event finishing with timing of 2: 06.74 minutes. She captained Sri Lankan contingent for the

2019 Asian Athletics Championships The 2019 Asian Athletics Championships was the 23rd edition of the Asian Athletics Championships. It was held from 21 to 24 April 2019 at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar. During the closing ceremony of the 22nd Asian Athletics Cha ...

which was held at

Khalifa Stadium Khalifa International Stadium (, , ) is a multi-purpose stadium located in Doha, Qatar, around west from the centre of Doha. Its ground comprises a running track and a grass pitch. Opened in 1976, the stadium was named after then Emir of Qata ...

Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

. During the event, she failed to defend her title in women's 800m event finishing at seventh place with a timing of 2: 08.69 minutes and was part of Sri Lankan 4 × 400 meter relay team which finished at fourth place. During the 23rd Asian Athletics Championships on the final day of the competition, she along with Nadeesha Ramanayaka, Dilshi Kumarasinghe and Upamalika Ratnakumari set the new Sri Lankan national record for 4 × 400 meter relay with a record timing of 3: 35.06 seconds. She also represented Sri Lanka at the 2019 Military World Games and claimed silver medal in the

800 meters The 800 metres, or 800 meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event sin ...

just behind Ukrainian

Natalija Krol Natalia is a female given name with the original Late Latin meaning of "Christmas Day" (cf. Latin natale domini). In Russian, a common diminutive is Natasha (Наташа). Variants and derived forms of given name Natalia * Nathalie: English ...

with a timing of 2: 06.14 minutes. In addition, she finished eighth in the 1500 meter run in 4: 31.85 minutes and was fourth in the relay in 3: 43.33 minutes. She was injured in a road accident prior to the

2019 South Asian Games The 2019 South Asian Games, officially the XIII South Asian Games, was a major multi-sport event which was originally slated to be held from 9 to 18 March 2019 in Kathmandu and Pokhara, Nepal. However, the dates were postponed and the event was ...

and was ruled out of the tournament. She broke the women's 1500m national record at the 97th National Athletics Championships in 2019 with a timing of 4:15.86 minutes. She was also one of the athletes among the Sri Lankan contingent to have participated at the 60th National Inter-State Athletics Championships in New Delhi, India as part of the preparations prior to the 2020 Olympics and claimed bronze medal in the 800m event. As of March 2021, she was ranked among top 60 athletes in the world according to

World Athletics World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

in the Road to Olympics rankings. She received the Universality Place from the World Athletics to compete at the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

. She would represent Sri Lanka at the 2020 Summer Olympics in the women's 800m event and it marked her debut appearance at the Olympics. It was revealed that Nimali qualified to Tokyo Olympics only after

Nilani Ratnayake Nilani Ratnayake (born 8 August 1990), also spelt as Nilani Rathnayake or Nilani Rathnayaka, is a Sri Lankan steeplechaser. She is the first and only Sri Lankan female steeplechase runner ever in history to have completed running the 3000 meters ...

had failed to qualify for the 2020 Olympics in the women's 3000m steeplechase. She was also the only Sri Lankan female track and field athlete to compete at the Tokyo Olympics. Nimali was also the first Sri Lankan track and field athlete to compete in women's 800m event at the Olympics after 29 years as

Sriyani Dhammika Menike M. D. Sriyani Dhammika Menike (born 3 February 1970) is a former Sri Lankan female middle-distance runner. She competed in the women's 1500 metres at the 1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV ...

was the last to have competed in the relevant discipline. She could not proceed to the next round in the women's 800m after securing an 8th-place finish in the heat event.

Controversies

On 31 July 2021, a social media post was shared more than 7000 times which indicates the photo of Nimali Liyanarachchi having her name tagged with safety pins on her jersey during the women's 800m event. The post also included that 60 sports officials had accompanied the Sri Lankan contingent for the Olympics and as a result the resources for the athletes had been stretched. However, the social media post was deemed to be misleading as only 20 sports officials had accompanied Sri Lankan Olympians. Sports minister

Namal Rajapaksa Lakshman Namal Rajapaksa (, ; born 10 April 1986; known as Namal Rajapaksa) is a Sri Lankan lawyer and politician. He is the eldest son of former President of Sri Lanka, President and former Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Prime Minister Mahinda Ra ...

during a parliamentary session, insisted that Nimali had forgotten her running shoes prior to competing in the women's 800m heat event at the Tokyo Olympics. However, Nimali refuted the allegations stating that she had brought her spikes in her hand luggage for the Games and she revealed that false and misinformation was conveyed to Namal Rajapaksa.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Liyanarachchi, Nimali Sri Lankan female middle-distance runners 1989 births Living people Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Asian Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics South Asian Games gold medalists for Sri Lanka South Asian Games silver medalists for Sri Lanka Asian Games athletes for Sri Lanka South Asian Games medalists in athletics Commonwealth Games athletes for Sri Lanka Sportspeople from Southern Province, Sri Lanka Olympic athletes for Sri Lanka Asian Athletics Championships winners Asian Athletics Championships medalists Military World Games silver medalists Military World Games medalists for Sri Lanka Military World Games medalists in athletics (track and field)