had trained for only about 3 months before the games while the gold medallist, Roy Cochran of the United States, had trained for about 4 years. Most importantly, White secured Sri Lanka's first ever Olympic medal in the county's debut appearance at the Games. His silver medal achievement came only two days after the opening ceremony of the Olympics. White's time, 51.8 seconds, was only 0.7 seconds behind Cochran; both times bettered the existing Olympic record. He competed in men's 200m event but was did not progress beyond first round. After the Olympic victory, White was welcomed at a ceremony at Trinity College and was honoured with the return of his 'Lion'. In his speech at the special assembly, White said: "[A]lthough my victory at the Olympics is prestigious, the 'Lion' makes me feel more honoured than that", and received the 'Lion' with open arms. The Government of Ceylon awarded him a scholarship to Loughborough University, where he won the Inter-University Challenge Shield. He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) and awarded the Helms World Trophy as the "Most Outstanding Athlete" in Asia. In the 1950 British Empire Games in Auckland, New Zealand, White won the 440-yard hurdles, only 0.3 seconds behind the world record. He also became the first Sri Lankan to win a gold medal in any sporting event after the independence. He also teamed up with fellow prominent track and field athletes Summa Navaratnam, John de Saram and Oscar Wijesinghe in the men's 4 × 110 yards event where Sri Lanka finished at fourth position during the 1950 British Empire Games. He also missed out on another bronze medal chance after placing fourth position in the men's 4 × 400 yards event. Military career In 1942, during World War II, White was commissioned as an officer in the Ceylon Light Infantry. He was demobilised in 1947. He later joined the Ceylon Volunteer Force, going on to become a Major and gaining the Efficiency Decoration. Academic career After graduating from Loughborough, he returned to Ceylon in 1951 and was appointed the physical education lecturer at the teachers' college in Maharagama. In 1958, the Department of Education appointed him coach of the Sri Lanka Schools Athletic Association. In 1963 he took up a post as lecturer at the University of Nigeria in 1963 and went on to become a senior lecturer at the