SECRET RECIPE
Thai lifters’ success in Rio no accident
The Thai Amateur Weightlifting Association did it the hard way but given the nature of the sport, the organisation couldn’t have found an easier route to success at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. And Tawa officials are proud of the fact that their success, which added two gold, one silver and a bronze medals to the Thai tally in Rio, was not accidental but a product of sheer hard work and commitment.
The two gold medals were won by Sopita Tanasan (women’s 48kg) and Sukanya Srisurat (women’s 58kg).
Pimsiri Sirikaew (women’s 58kg) earned her second silver medal after the 2012 London Games and Sinphet Kruaithong (men’s 56kg) took the bronze to become the first Thai male weightlifter to win an Olympic medal.
The Thais also came close to claiming medals in two other men’s event, but Sarat Sumpradit (97kg) and Jutaphum Chinnawong (77kg) had to be content with fourth places.
Sopita and Sukanya were the only two Thai gold medallists in the 54-strong Thai contingent at the Rio Games.
Thanks to their success, the Tawa became the country’s most successful national sports association at the Olympics by leapfrogging the boxing body.
Before the Rio Games, the Tawa’s tally stood at three gold medals, one behind boxing.
However, Sopita and Sukanya’s victories, coupled with the Thai boxers’ medal-less run in Rio, the overall Thai haul in weightlifting shot up to five gold medals.
Thailand have earned their Olympic medals in weightlifting, boxing and taekwondo only.
The three previous gold medallists in weightlifting were Prapawadee Jaroenrattanatarakoon (2008), Udomporn Polsak (2004) and Pawina Thongsuk (2004), all of them being women.
“It takes time and a great effort to be successful at this level,” said Tawa advisor Maj Gen Intarat Yodbangtoey, who is also a vice president of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF).
“Some athletes have been training here since they were very young. For example, Sukanya and Sopita have been with us for at least six or seven years,” Intarat added.
“At the training camp, we spend about 1.7-2 million baht a month.
“Overall, we spend more than 50 million baht a year to cover all the expenses, including travelling and competing abroad.”
He said the Thai weightlifters had trained for one full year before the Olympic Games and the ones who were the cream were treated in a special way.
“At every dinner for a year, these weightlifters had steaks and that cost us a lot of money,” he said. “But they needed it.”
Intarat said apart from training, coaching, generating cash and being actively involved with the world governing body have also been among the keys to the Tawa’s success.
He added that being associated with the IWF had helped a great deal in developing the Thai weightlifters because he had access to information about the progress made by other countries.
Former Tawa president Intarat said he is not the only Thai to be active at the international level but he had encouraged and promoted others to follow his suit and be a part of the world governing body.
“I have been giving chances to younger generations to work with the IWF in different capacities for the sake of our association and country,” he said.
“We need to develop and promote our people. So far, we have about 50 judges in weightlifting and some of them, including Pawina Thongsuk, have officiated at international events including the Olympic Games.
“Being a part of the world sports federation is vital and the government should give each association a helping hand in this regard.”
Also as the president of the Federation of the National Sports Associations, Intarat will next month chair a meeting to discuss the issue and seek the public sector’s help in supporting the Thais in the performance of their duties in the world sports governing bodies.
Intarat revealed that dealings behind the closed doors with the Chinese delegation also played a part in Thailand winning their first gold medal in the Rio Games in the women’s 48kg.
Hot favourite Hou Zhihui of China pulled out late due to an injury and instead of fielding a replacement in the same division, China chose to compete in the women’s 75kg category with Meng Suping coming in for Hou.
“I spoke to my Chinese counterparts and asked them to compete in the 75kg division because there were not many strong competitors in that class,” he said.
“That gave us the chance to win the gold medal and Meng also took the gold medal in her division.”
Ironically, Sopita’s gold medal also ended China’s domination of the women’s 48kg class after claiming victories in the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Games.
Based on their weightlifters’ records, the Tawa was the only association which was confident of winning gold at the Rio Games.
With nine weightlifters in the Games (four women and five men), Intarat was confident of capturing at least five medals and maybe even seven with some luck.
“I was sure that we would win five medals because I knew the records of my weightlifters and also of their opponents,” he claimed.
“However, I could not tell at the time [before the Rio Games] which medals these would be.
“Our hopes rested in the women’s 58kg division and that is the reason why I put both Sukanya and Pimsiri in the same category.”
He said was he disappointed that Siripuch [formerly Rattikarn] Gulnoi failed to win a medal, otherwise, his five-medal target would have been achieved.
“Pookluk [Siripuch’s nickname] lacked composure and she also seemed to have a weight problem.”
Looking to the future, Intarat said there was nothing to worry because he has everything in place, especially the young guns ready to shine in the 53kg and 48kg divisions.
Among them is Thanya Sukcharoen who early this year was the gold medallist at the Junior World Championships in Georgia where she snatched 86kg and lifted 108kg in the clean and jerk in the 48kg class.
More rising stars are expected to come through in the near future when the Tawa and their main sponsor Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) launches the project “One State Enterprise, One Sport” [One state enterprise supports one sport].
Moroever, the increase in doping tests leading to suspensions of a number of weightlifters, Russians in particular, will give more chances to other countries to develop, said Intarat.
“As for Thailand, we have a good lab to test our players regularly. That is nothing to worry about,” he said.
“Before that, our lab was poor and that was why some of our weightlifters tested positive and we were fined up to 15 million baht.”
In all, Thailand were behind only China (five gold medals) in the 15-gold medal weightlifting events at the Rio Games. Iran had two gold medals, while the rest went to North Korea, Kazakhstan, Colombia, Georgia, Taiwan, and Uzbekistan.
As an IWF vice president, he said that in the next Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020, there will be 16 gold medals on offer with one more events to be added on the women’s side.
“We need gender equality, so it will be eight gold medals for each side,” he said.
“It is not decided yet how many places will be allocated to each country.
“However, the IWF needs to limit the quotas to give other countries a chance to win medals and develop the sport.”