| Sports |
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Thibbs was inspired by his father |
| By Natasha Fernandopulle |
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| Diluka Thibbotumunuwe. Pic by Sanka Vidanagama |
Inspiration comes from many a source – a person, an incident, a memory or may be all three... In fact, all these can drive individuals to achieve great heights and there is one particular person, who has done so. He is the swimmer, Diluka Thibbotumunuwe (16), a student of Ananda College, Colombo.
“I got the feel for water, swimming around in the pool when I was around three years old,” Diluka says, adding, “It was while I was in Grade One that I entered my school’s swim squad,” and since then, there has been no turning back for Thibbs, as his colleagues call him.
At the recently concluded National Short Course Swimming Meet, held at Hillwood College, Kandy, on April 4, 2009, he set a new record for the 200 metres Breast Stroke with a timing of 2:36:00, breaking his previous record of 2:36:72.
As much as swimming is a part of his life, he understands the value of school work. When I met up with him last week in Kandy, he had just received news that he had done exceptionally well at the Ordinary Level Exams!
“I find time for my books,” he says, adding, “By the time I finish trainings it is around 6.30 in the evening and it takes an hour or so for me to get home with the traffic and all, and then I go on to study in the night.” Diluka trains at the NCC under Julian Bolling, Director, Rainbow Swimming Academy. He has been with the Academy for the past six years and says that the support he has received and still receives from Bolling is what has helped him come as far as he has, in swimming.
“I was four years old when my father passed away,” he recalls, adding, “Every time I swim, I remember him.” And went on explain, that his father, T. C. B. J. Thibbotumunuwe was an Air Force Wing Commander, and had been the main pilot when a missile attacked his aircraft in Pallai 1995. “The death of my father has inspired me to join the Air Force and that’s the main reason that I started swimming,” he says, adding he learnt it was necessary to have such a skill, in order to join the Air Force.
His favourite stroke is the Breast Stroke while the swimmer he admires the most is the Japanese 200 metres Breast Stroke Champion Kosuke Kitajima.
“My brothers swim too but my older brother doesn’t anymore and my younger brother plays basketball,” he says adding that his strength is drawn from the support he receives from his family, a friend of his father’s and his coach. However he stressed, “My mother looks after me all on her own,” Diluka says, “And I am so thankful for that.” |
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