Matthew Abeysinghe: Taking Sri Lankan Swimming to New Heights

Matthew Abeysinghe: Taking Sri Lankan Swimming to New Heights

Matthew Abeysinghe is a name synonymous with excellence beyond measure in the sport of swimming. As we near this year’s Tokyo Olympics, one thing is for certain: Matthew is no stranger to this caliber of competition. Born in Pennsylvania, in the United States, Matthew spent most of his childhood swimming for his club based in Ohio, where his own father Manoj Abeysinghe was a swim coach. It was in 2010 that he and his family moved to Sri Lanka, with the main intention of starting afresh and uplifting the Sri Lankan swimming standard at that time. In a matter of months, the entire swimming community got to know the name Matthew and it was only an upward journey for this Sri Lankan swimmer thereafter.

Medaling at various major Asian level events such as the Asian Age Group Aquatic Championships (2011) and the Asian Youth Games (2013), Matthew began to cement his name internationally, while making history locally too, by breaking all of the legendary National Records which belonged to none other than Deshabandu Julian Bolling way back in the ’80s and ’90s. In the process, Matthew became the owner of a vast majority of Sri Lanka’s swimming records, whether it was long distance or short distance. 

Only after securing his domination over the Sri Lankan swimming arena did Matthew start to focus on his strongest events: The 50m, 100m, and 200m Freestyle. Even then, that didn’t stop him from pursuing other events, especially during the 2016 and 2019 South Asian Games when he won seven gold medals each, once again surpassing Julian Bolling’s record for the most number of gold medals in a single SAG. Shortly after this, Matthew created history by becoming the first Sri Lankan ever to achieve the Olympic ‘B’ qualification standard in swimming by breaking his own 100m Freestyle record with a time of 50.53s.

During the past few years, many followed Matthew’s suit in reaching the top level in the international arena. The impact on the swimming community was best reflected when for the first time ever, our very own swimmers made it to the finals in the 4x100m freestyle relay at both the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games in 2018. It was actually during these games that Matthew bettered his own record by clocking a time of 49.11s in the 100m Freestyle which is just mere milliseconds away from the Olympic ‘A’ qualification standard.

Matthew has certainly a long road ahead of him and he has not given up on his dreams of reaching greater and higher standards in the world arena. We at MoraSpirit take great pleasure and honor in congratulating Matthew for all his achievements and wishing him all the best at this year’s Olympic Games.



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