Chinthana Geetal Vidanage is a former Sri Lankan Olympic Games weightlifter who represented the country at several international meets with a great amount of success.
Vidanage was born on December 31, 1981 in Polonnaruwa and was educated at Navodya MV and Royal College, Polonnaruwa.
He came into the limelight by establishing a new record at the 2001 National Weightlifting Championships.
But his biggest achievement was when he won the first international Gold Medal for Sri Lanka in weightlifting at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia.
Thereafter, Vidanage became an automatic choice to represent the country at international events and went on to bring more fame and glory to Sri Lanka.
He added a Silver Medal to his tally at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India and won a Gold Medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Championships in Samoa.
Vidanage also dominated the South Asian Games and won a Gold Medal in 2004 (Pakistan), 2006 (Colombo) and 2010 (Bangladesh) respectively.
However, he had to be content with the Silver Medal at the 2015 Asian Weightlifting Championships held in Thailand.
He had the opportunity of participating at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China and finished in 16th place in the World Rankings.
Vidanage secured fifth place at the 2009 Asian Weightlifting Championships in Kazakhstan and finished in fourth place at the 2011 Asian Weightlifting Championships in China.
Vidanage also participated at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Scotland and was the Sri Lanka Team Captain at the 2014 Asian Games in South Korea.
He won the Gold Medal at the National Sports Festival from 2002 to 2017 while setting new Sri Lanka records.
He won the Gold Medal at the National Weightlifting Championships from 2001 to 2017 with New Sri Lankan records.
Vidanage is the only sportsman in Sri Lankan history to win two medals at the Commonwealth Games. He won the Gold Medal in 2006 and won the Silver Medal in 2010.
He was selected as the Most Outstanding Sportsman of 2010 and captained the Sri Lanka Team for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India.
He was also the team captain for the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.
Vidanage has won the Sri Lankan Best Lifter Award from 2002 to 2010 and 2015 and 2017 and has eight Sri Lankan records in three weight categories (69kg, 77kg and 85kg). (C.D)
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