Thailand leads South Asian countries in Olympics 2008

29th Olympiad which ended this Sunday again saw Thailand as the leading winner among all its South Asian rivals with four medals—two golds and two silvers. Indonesia, with one gold, one silver and three bronzes, has the most number of medals with five. Malaysia, Singapore and even Vietnam have a silver each.

Thailand’s two golds came with the victory of veteran boxer Jongjohor Somnit and woman weightlifter P. Jaroenrattanatarakoon. With this, Jongjohor became the third Thai to win a boxing gold medal in the Olympics. Jaroenrattanatarakoon topped the women’s 53-kg division in weightlifting two days after the Aug. 8 opening ceremonies to become the first Southeast Asian gold medalist in Beijing.

The veteran Boonjumnong had won the light welterweight boxing title in Athens four years ago. However, this time he lost badly to Felix Diaz of the Dominican Republic, 12-4, in the gold medal match and had to be satisfied with a silver. Thailand’s other silver was won by Buttree Puedpong, who lost to China’s Wu Jingyu in the gold medal match of taekwondo’s women’s under-49kg category.

With its two golds in Beijing, Thailand overtook Indonesia in the number of golds won with seven. With four silvers and 10 bronzes and a total of 21, Thailand still trails Indonesia in the all-time medal count. The Philippines is third with nine medals consisting of two silvers and seven bronzes.