Category — Thailand

Here’s tip number one for those of you Olympic wannabes: if you want to win an Olympic gold medal, change your name to something like Supercalifragilistic Expialidocious. Will it work? The trick worked for Thai weightlifter Prapawadee Jaroenrattanatarakoon so it might work for you too.

Legend has it [actually it's a true story] that Prawadee, then named Chanpim Kantatian wasn’t sure whether she can make it to the Thai Olympic team so she consulted a fortune teller who advised her to change her name. So Chanpim Kantatian became Prapawadee Jaroenrattanatarakoon. And then she went on to win an Olympic gold medal, the first for Thailand in the Beijing Games. Congratulations to our Thai friends. Kaw sadeng kwam yin dee duay!!

Interesting side note: The Canadian Broadcasting Company is reporting that China could have won this event if “not for a rule that limits competitors to four women per country”. More here.

Edited to Add: Prapawadee will be US$314,000 richer based on Thailand’s incentive scheme for Olympic medalists. Want to know the financial incentives given by other countries? Here’s the link: How Much Money Do Olympians Make? Thailand is giving out the highest incentive so far followed by the Philippines’ US$220,000.

Photo source: xinhuanet

Thai taekwondo jins Buttree Puedpong, Chutchawal Khaola-or, and Chonnapas Premwaew (left) are good enough to win Olympic gold medals according to Pimol Srivikorn, president of the Taekwondo Association of Thailand (TAT).

If any of the three will win a gold medal, s/he will receive a bonus amounting to $314,000 as we noted here. Of the countries we’ve tracked so far, Thailand is awarding the richest financial incentive to its Olympic medalists.

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The Money Report: Thai Olympic Medal Incentives
The Olympic Torch in Bangkok

PHOTO SOURCE: Yahoo

According to our list, Thailand — so far — is giving the highest financial incentive to its Olympic medalists. Here’s how it looks:

Gold medalists will earn $314,000, silver medal winners will take home $187,788 while a bronze is worth $125,213.

Unlike other countries, Thailand will be giving its athletes’ incentives via installment — 50% will be rewarded after the Olympics while the other 50% will be paid over a 20 year period.

In case you are wondering, the Thai authorities decided on this installment scheme after 2004 boxing gold medalist Manus Boonjumnong gambled away the $600,000 he received following his Olympic victory.

Thankfully, Manus is going back to the Olympics to defend his title. If he wins another gold medal he will earn $314,000 which, we hope, will be used for more productive, non-gambling activities.

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The Olympic flame is scheduled to arrive in Bangkok tomorrow; a torch relay around the capital is scheduled on Saturday.

Above photo shows Olympic medalist Pavina Tongsuk, right, and Assistant Permanent Secretary of Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, Anan Siripasraporn. Photo credit: AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong