Thailand at the 2004 Summer Olympics

Infobox Olympics Thailand
games=2004 Summer
competitors=42 (24 men, 18 women)
sports=13
flagbearer=Paradorn Srichaphan
officials=
gold=3
silver=1
bronze=4
total=8
rank=25

Thailand competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.With three gold and eight medals altogether, it was the best ever performance of Thai athletes at any Olympic Games.

Medalists

Results by event

=Athletics=

Women's 100 metre hurdles:
* Trecia Roberts
**Round 1: 13.80 s (8th in heat 2, did not advance, 34th overall)

Women's High Jump:
* Noengrothai Chaipetch
**Qualification: 1.89 m (13th in Group B, did not advance, 21st overall)

Women's Shot Put:
* Juttaporn Krasaeyan
**Qualification: 16.49 m (14th in Group B, did not advance, 25th overall)

=Badminton=

Thailand had never won a medal in Olympic Badminton, and it seemed like their best chance to change that in Athens lay with the mixed doubles team, which was fifth-seeded. However, they lost their first match to a Swedish team, including a hard-fought 31-point second set.

No other Thai entrant came into the tournament ranked in the top 10, but world #21 Boonsak Ponsana pulled off a surprise run in the men's singles. After easing through his first match, Ponsana beat the 5th seed from Korea in a tough, hour-long match. With the elimination from his quarter of the top seed, Lin Dan, Ponsana then advanced to the semi-final, where his run ended, as he lost two consecutive matches to Indonesian opponents to end up in 4th. The bronze medal match was a straight sets loss, but was more than an hour long, and featured a 33-point second set.

Men's Singles:
* Boonsak Ponsana
**Round of 32: Defeated Chris Dednam of South Africa (15 - 1, 15 - 0)
**Round of 16: Defeated (5) Lee Hyun-Il of South Korea (15 - 13, 15 - 11)
**Quarterfinal: Defeated Ronald Susilo of Singapore (15 - 10, 15 - 1)
**Semifinal: Lost to Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia (9 - 15, 2 - 15)
**Bronze Medal Match: Lost to (8) Sonny Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia (11 - 15, 16 - 17)

Men's Doubles:
* Pramote Teerawiwatana and Tesana Panvisvas
**Round of 32: Defeated Ashley Brehaut and Travis Denney of Australia (15 - 3, 15 - 9)
**Round of 16: Lost to (4) Choong Tan Fook and Lee Wan Wah of Malaysia (10 - 15, 13 - 15)

* Sudket Prapakamol and Patapol Ngernsrisuk
**Round of 32: Lost to Anthony Clark and Nathan Robertson of Great Britain (5 - 15, 9 - 15)

Women's Singles:
* Salakjit Ponsana
**Round of 32: Defeated Miho Tanaka of Japan (11 - 7, 5 - 11, 11 - 8)
**Round of 16: Lost to (1) Gong Ruina of China (9 - 11, 4 - 11)

Women's Doubles:
* Saralee Thungthongkam and Sathinee Chankrachangwong
**Round of 32: Defeated Denyse Julien and Anna Rice of Canada (15 - 3, 15 - 4)
**Round of 16: Defeated (8) Chikako Nakayama and Keiko Yoshitomi of Japan (15 - 4, 15 - 11)
**Quarterfinal: Lost to (1) Zhang Jiewen and Yang Wei of China (2 - 15, 4 - 15)

Mixed Doubles:
* (5) Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thungthongkam
**Round of 32: Bye
**Round of 16: Lost to Frederik Bergstrom and Johanna Persson of Sweden (15 - 3, 14 - 17, 15 - 3)

=Boxing=

Of the nine medals Thailand had won at the Olympics Games coming into Athens, eight had been in Boxing, so it is no surprise that it was among the Thais most successful events in the 2004 Games. The six Thai boxers in Athens included a the first Thai Olympic gold medalist (Kamsing), a world champion (Jongjohor) and three Asian Games medallists (Pannon, Boonjumnong and Prasathinphimai).
Somluck Kamsing was the first to go down, losing his first round bout handily. Next was Pannon, beaten by the eventual gold medalist from Cuba, along with Jongjohor, who also had the misfortune of drawing a Cuban in the second round, and lost a tight bout. The three other boxers all survived to the semifinals, and were guaranteed at least bronze medals.

In the Middleweight class, 2002 Asian Games silver medalist Suriya Prasathinphimai lost to European champion Gaydar Gaydarbekov, settling for bronze. In Bantamweight, surprise semifinalist Worapoj Petchkoom upset world champion Aghasi Mammadov, but in the final was no match for defending champion Guillermo Rigondeaux. The third boxer in the semifinals, Light Welterweight Manus Boonjumnong, had beaten the world champion in the quarters, and after a semfinal win, faced another Cuban in the final. Boonjumnong outpointed his opponent by 6 to win the gold medal and give Thailand a complete set of medals from Boxing.

Overall, the team went 14-5 in Athens, and finished tied with Kazakhstan in the Boxing medal count. Four of the six boxers on the team had their final bout of the tournament against a Cuban.

Men's Light Flyweight (48 kg):
*Suban Pannon
**Round of 32: Defeated Salim Salimov of Bulgaria (26 - 14)
**Round of 16: Lost to Yan Bhartelemy Varela of Cuba (14 - 23)

Men's Flyweight (51 kg):
*Somjit Jongjohor
**Round of 32: Defeated Kim Ki-Suk of South Korea (22 - 12)
**Round of 16: Lost to Yuriorkis Gamboa Toledano of Cuba (21 - 26)

Men's Bantamweight (54 kg):
*Worapoj Petchkoom
**Round of 32: Defeated Kim Won-Il of South Korea (Outscored; Round 3, 1:47)
**Round of 16: Defeated Khavazhi Khatsigov of Belarus (33 - 18)
**Quarterfinal: Defeated Nestor Bolum of Nigeria (29 - 14)
**Semifinal: Defeated Aghasi Mammadov of Azerbaijan (27 - 19)
**Final: Lost to Guillermo Rigondeaux Ortiz of Cuba (13 - 22) (Silver Medal)

Men's Featherweight (57 kg):
*Somluck Kamsing
**Round of 32: Lost to Benoit Gaudet of Canada (17 - 32)

Men's Light Welterweight (64 kg):
*Manus Boonjumnong
**Round of 32: Defeated Spyridon Ioannidis of Greece (28 - 16)
**Round of 16: Defeated Romeo Brin of the Philippines (29 - 15)
**Quarterfinal: Defeated Willy Blain of France (20 - 8)
**Semifinal: Defeated Ionut Gheorghe of Romania (30 - 9)
**Final: Defeated Yudel Johnson Cedeno of Cuba (17 - 11) (Gold Medal)

Men's Middleweight (75 kg):
*Suriya Prasathinphimai
**Round of 32: Defeated Joseph Lubega of Uganda (30 - 21)
**Round of 16: Defeated Javid Taghiyev of Azerbaijan (+19 - 19)
**Quarterfinal: Defeated Oleg Mashkin of France (28 - 22)
**Semifinal: Lost to Gaydarbek Gaydarbekov of Russia (18 - 24) (Bronze Medal)

=Equestrian=

Bunluewong had a very strong cross country portion of the eventing competition, but the other parts of his competition were not strong enough for him to qualify for the final.

Individual Eventing:
* Pongsiree Bunluewong riding Eliza Jane
**Dressage: 74.60 penalty points (71st overall)
**Cross-country: 4.40 penalty points (Total: 79.00 penalty points, 43rd overall)
**Jumping Qualification: 32 penalty points (Total : 110.0 penalty points, 51st overall, did not advance)

=Fencing=

Both Thai fencers went 1-1 in Athens, Kothny winning a very tight match against a closely ranked opponent, and Rathprasert, the lowest seed in the draw, beating the 58th ranked fencer in the world to move on to the second round.

Men's Épée:
* (37) Siriroj Rathprasert
**Round of 64: Defeated (28) Mohanad Saif el din Sabry of Egypt (15 - 13)
**Round of 32: Lost to (5) Eric Boisse of France (5 - 15)

Men's Sabre:
* (17) Wiradech Kothny
**Round of 64: Bye
**Round of 32: Defeated (16) Fernando Medina of Spain (15 - 13)
**Round of 16: Lost to (1) Vladimir Lukashenko of Ukraine (11 - 15)

=Rowing=

Nikree finished ahead of only two other boats in the women's single sculls.

Women's Single Sculls:
*Phuttharaksa Nikree
**Heat: 8:24.03 (5th in heat 3, advanced to repechage)
**Repechage: 7:53.52 (5th in repechage 4, advanced to semifinal C/D)
**Semifinal C/D: 8:17.13 (5th in semifinal C/D 2, advanced to final D)
**Final D: 8:00.44 (4th in final D, 22nd overall)

=Sailing=

Homraruen finished in the middle of the pack, with his best showing a 5th place in the final race of the competition.

Men's Mistral:
*Arun Homraruen
**189 points (21st overall)

=Shooting=

Neither Thai shooter managed to make a final in any of their events. This was surely a dissapopintment for Majchacheeap, who was the world record holder in the 10 metre air rifle, and at the time the only man to have ever shot a perfect 600 points in that event.

Men's 50 metre Rifle 3 Positions:
*Tevarit Majchacheeap
**Qualification: 1159 points (388 Prone, 385 Standing, 386 Kneeling) (T-16th overall, did not advance)

Men's 50 metre Rifle Prone:
*Tevarit Majchacheeap
**Qualification: 589 (T-36th overall, did not advance)

Men's 10 metre Air Rifle:
*Tevarit Majchacheeap
**Qualification: 587 (T-35th overall, did not advance)

Men's 50 metre Pistol:
*Jakkrit Panichpatikum
**Qualification: 549 (T-28th overall, did not advance)

Men's 10 metre Air Pistol:
*Jakkrit Panichpatikum
**Qualification: 571 (T-36th overall, did not advance)

=Swimming=

No Thai swimmer made a semifinal, but Ratapong Sirisanont was the closest, only 3 places out of the qualification spots.

Men's 50 metre Freestyle:
*Arwut Chinnapasen
**23.52 s (46th overall, did not advance)

Men's 400 metre Freestyle:
*Charnvudth Saengsri
**3:59.89 (33rd overall, did not advance)

Men's 1500 metre Freestyle:
*Charnvudth Saengsri
**15:54.46 (27th overall, did not advance)

Men's 100 metre Breaststroke:
*Ratapong Sirisanont
**Disqualified

Men's 200 metre Breaststroke:
*Ratapong Sirisanont
**2:15.39 (19th overall, did not advance)

Women's 200 metre Freestyle:
*Pilin Tachakittiranan
**2:05.29 (35th overall, did not advance)

Women's 400 metre Freestyle:
*Pilin Tachakittiranan
**4:23.62 (34th overall, did not advance)

Women's 100 metre Backstroke:
*Chonlathorn Vorathamrong
**1:05.15 (32nd overall, did not advance)

Women's 200 metre backstroke:
*Chonlathorn Vorathamrong
**2:21.11 (29th overall, did not advance)

Women's 400 metre Individual Medley:
*Nimitta Thaveesupsoonthorn
**5:00.06 (22nd overall, did not advance)

=Table Tennis=

Komwong entered the tournament as the #75 player in the world, winning her second round match against a top-30 opponent in five sets before falling to the #16 seed.

Women's Singles:
* Nanthana Komwong
**Round 1: Defeated Mouma Das of India (11 - 6, 11 - 7, 11 - 3, 12 - 10)
**Round 2: Defeated Nicole Struse of Germany (11 - 7, 11 - 4, 9 - 11, 11 - 7, 13 - 11)
**Round 3: Lost to (16) Viktoria Pavlovich of Belarus (4 - 11, 6 - 11, 11 - 9, 3 - 11, 11 - 7, 1 - 11)

=Taekwondo=

Thailand had never won a medal in any martial arts, but at the 2003 World Championships, the country won its first two medals of the Olympic era in the sport. Those two medalists appeared in Athens, and though they both lost to eventual finalists, they continued in the repechage.

In the Women's Under 57 kg class, Nootcharin Sukkhongdumnoen lost a semifinal on points, after it finished tied 7-7, to an American fighter, and was then beaten by eventual bronze medalist Sonia Reyes in the second repechage round. In the Under 49 kg class, Yaowapa Boorapolchai lost to a Cuban fighter in the second round, but filed a protest, claiming she had scored two hits and not been awarded scores. The protest was denied, but advanced to the bronze medal match after her Canadian opponent ended up with a negative score through penalty points, and won the bronze medal on a penalty point awarded in the second round.

Men's Under 58 kg:
*Ussadate Sutthikunkarn
**Round 1: Lost to Michalis Mouroutsos of Greece (2 - 5)

Men's Under 80 kg:
*Kriangkrai Noikoed
**Round 1: Lost to Yossef Karami of Iran (12 - 16)

Women's Under 49 kg:
*Yaowapa Boorapolchai
**Round 1: Defeated Brigitte Yague of Iran (12 - 16)
**Round 2: Lost to Yanelis Yuliet Labrada Diaz of Cuba (1 - 3) (advanced to repechage round 1)
**Repechage Round 1: Bye
**Repechage Round 2: Defeated Ivett Gonda of Canada (2 - -1)
**Bronze Medal Match: Defeated Gladys Alicia Mora Romero of Cuba (2 - 1)

Women's Under 57 kg:
*Nootcharin Sukkhongdumnoen
**Round 1: Defeated Areti Athanasopoulou of Greece (6 - 6; Superiority)
**Round 2: Defeated Chi Shu Ju of Chinese Taipei (8 - 0)
**Round 3: Lost to Nia Abdallah of the United States (7 - 7; points) (advanced to repechage round 2)
**Repechage Round 2: Lost to Sonia Reyes of Spain (3 - 6)

=Tennis=

Srichaphan, the 16th ranked player in the world and the #10 seed, was eliminated in the first round after getting a fairly tough draw, 30th ranked Joachim Johansson. Though Tamarine Tanasugarn was less heralded, only 47th in the world, her loss may have been more disappointing, as she fell in three sets to an Indonesian player ranked outside the top 100, who entered the tournament on a Tripartite Commission Invitation.

Men's Singles:
*Paradorn Srichaphan
**First Round: Lost to Joachim Johansson of Sweden (3 - 6, 2 - 6)

Women's Singles:
*Tamarine Tanasugarn
**First Round: Lost to Angelique Widjaja of Indonesia (6 - 1, 2 - 6, 1 - 6)

=Weightlifting=

Before Sydney, Boxing was the only sport in which Thailand had ever won a medal, but they changed that with a bronze in women's weightlifting, the first ever medal for a Thai woman.

Four years later, the Thai team was poised to increase that medal count. At the 2003 World Championships, they had won three medals, one of each type, and two of those medalists, including world champion Udomporn Polsak were competing in Athens. Incredibly, all four Thai women who traveled to the Games came home with medals, two gold and two bronze. At 48 kg, Wiratthaworn had the experience of setting an Olympic record but finishing 3rd, as she had the best Clean & Jerk but was well behind in the Snatch. In the 58 kg class, Kameaim held off a Turkish lifter to earn bronze. At 75 kg, Pawina Thongsuk trailed after the Snatch, but forced a tie in the Clean & Jerk, and won by having lower body weight. The fourth medal came from the world champion Polsak, who was never under serious pressure in cruising to gold, becoming the first Thai woman to win a gold medal at the Olympics.

Men's 69 kg:
*Suriya Dattuyawat
**Did not finish

Dattuyawat completed a Snatch of 137.5 kg, 11th in that portion, but did not compete in the Clean & Jerk.

Women's 48 kg:
*Aree Wiratthaworn
**200.0 kg (85.0 kg Snatch, 115.0 kg Clean & Jerk ("Olympic Record")) (Bronze Medal)

Women's 53 kg:
*Udomporn Polsak
**222.5 kg (97.5 kg Snatch, 125.0 kg Clean & Jerk ) (Gold Medal)

Women's 58 kg:
*Wandee Kameaim
**230.0 kg (102.5 kg Snatch, 127.5 kg Clean & Jerk ) (Bronze Medal)

Women's 75 kg:
*Pawina Thongsuk
**272.5 kg (122.5 kg Snatch, 150.0 kg Clean & Jerk ) (Gold Medal)

=Demonstration Sports=

=Wheelchair Racing=

*Rawat Tana
**3:11.48 (Bronze Medal)Tana's medal did not count in the official standings, but if it had, it would have been Thailand's first in Athletics.

Officials

*President: General Yuthasak Sasiprapha
*Secretary General: Major General Charouck Arirachakaran

References

* [http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/2004/Results/ Official Report of the XXVIII Olympiad]