The background
Here is Sri Lanka’s first-ever Olympics team for the 14th Summer Olympics held in London, England from 29 July to 14 August that year. King George VI had declared open the Games at an Opening Ceremony held at the Wembley Stadium.
What the photo reveals
From left to right are Edward 'Eddie' Gray, Albert Perera, Duncan White, John De Saram, M.H.D. Perera (team Manager), G.D. Peiris, Leslie Handunge, and Alex Obeysekere; the entire, youthful, and well-dressed Ceylonese contingent is seen here walking in a happy and smart manner at the Olympic camp in Richmond Park in London on 13 June 1948, 16 days before the start of the Games.
De Saram, Peiris, and White took part in athletics while Gray, Handunge, Obeysekera, and Perera all took part in boxing.
De Saram ran in the men’s 200 and 400 m while Peiris took part in both long and triple jump. Gray played in men’s boxing lightweight category and lost in the round of 16. Handunge played in flyweight and also reached round two. Obeysekere played in the welterweight whilst Perera played in bantamweight.
Analysis
A masterpiece on men’s fashion of the 1940s! The haircuts, the coats, trousers, neckties, and shoes… they all display the youthful, handsome, urbanite Ceylonese of the time. They surely look proud and versatile sportsmen too.
Most of them seem to be looking at one subject in front of them or else, they are making a good pose for the photographer who is having a low-angled camera capturing the athletes in an agile and smart way against a couple of mid-20th Century simple structures and the mid-day sky (see their shadows). A fascinating photo of a sports team of an emerging nation, with grace, vigour, and hope.
Photographer
Unknown
An afterword
De Saram, a Royal - Colombo, Law College, and Yale Law School student, later became a diplomat who served as Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in New York. Eddie Grey, another Royalist, became the first Ceylonese to head the Police Mounted Division. He was once Secretary of the National Olympic Committee and died in Australia in 2004.
Handunge went on to participate in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics too in the same weight category - flyweight. Obeysekere, another Royalist, won the bronze medal at the 1950 Commonwealth Games (then British Empire Games) in Auckland. Perera won the silver in his weight category at the same Auckland Games.
Duncan White, as we all know, became the first Ceylonese to win an Olympic medal - in 400 m hurdles on 31 July 1948. He went on to win gold in 440-yard hurdles in the 1950 Auckland Commonwealth Games.
Born at Lathpandura, off Matugama, in 1918, White passed away in Warwickshire, England in 1998, aged 80.