Choi Young Seok, the “Thai” coach who won Thailand its first Olympic gold medal

[snoop1130]

Photo by Taekwondo Association of Thailand)

 

Behind every successful man is a supportive (albeit sometimes grumpy) woman, but behind the Olympics gold medal success of taekwondo heroine Panipak “Tennis” Wongpattanakit is a South Korean man who wants to be Thai.

 

Choi Young Seok, or Coach Che as he prefers to be known, has achieved one of his two ultimate goals by winning a gold Olympics medal for Thailand, which had been missing from his curriculum vitae. The other goal is to become a Thai citizen so he can be recognized as a Thai coach.

 

“I want to be Thai and want to be known as a Thai Olympic medal-winning coach, not a Korean coach for the Thai national team,” he told the press early this year.

 

Full Story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/choi-young-seok-the-thai-coach-who-won-thailand-its-first-olympic-gold-medal/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2021-07-26

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow ASEAN NOW on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

[nahkit]

At the risk of seeming pedantic, it's their first gold medal of the Tokyo games and also their first gold medal in Taekwondo but its definitely not their first Olympic gold medal.

[landosmiles]

36 minutes ago, nahkit said:

At the risk of seeming pedantic, it's their first gold medal of the Tokyo games and also their first gold medal in Taekwondo but its definitely not their first Olympic gold medal.

Thank you - I did not know - Thailand has won 10 gold medals: Thailand at the Olympics - Wikipedia

[worldexpress]

I partly understand the sentiment but going from 2nd or 3rd most powerful passport to a passport of inconvenience? Hmm.. Good luck traveling to a first-world country on a whim.

 

Edited July 27, 2021 by worldexpress

[unblocktheplanet]

If Thailand gave Tiger a passport, they should definitely give one to this guy.