Why Are Thais Only Good At Boxing, Taekwondo And Weightlifting

[Johnniey]

I remember watching the pandemonium when Thailand’s Somluck Kumsing won their country’s first Olympic gold medal in boxing. I’ve seen many more Thais win medal since then but the only 2 other sports that I can remember are Taekwando and Weightlifting.

Why only these sports I wonder? Why not tennis, badminton, table-tennis etc. Obviously body size is important in many sports.

Maybe it’s similar to why Americans can’t ride bicycles or ride horses?? No medals in any horse event this time round. What about all them rodeos and cowboys? Britains, on the other hand CAN ride bicycles winning many more medals than the USA, for example.

There are some very interesting statistics about the Olympics and different countries excelling in different sports.

Why can Ethiopians win 45 medals but only in athletics? Why not swimming or cycling. Maybe there are bumpy bad roads in Ethiopia? Then again American roads are probably good.

[Paangjang]

Strong in the arm, weak in the head?

[bonobo]

Countries have athletes who do well on the world stage where there is the infrastructure, coaching, support, and interest in that sport. In Thailand, boxing is king. It doesn't require much investment, very poor people can get involved, and there is a good infrastructure in place. In taekwondo, there is a good coach and renewed interest in Thais getting involved. And in weightlifting, after their first gold, there was a tremendous rush of new lifters getting into the sport.

[richard_smith237]

Interest and money.

The three represented sports represent the area's of Thai sports where there is some investment and a stronger public interest as a result of previous events.

Each nation carries forward their own strengths and area's of expertise, the wealthier countries have a wider area of expertise and investment whereas the poorer nations concentrate their efforts on a 'probability vs cost' basis.

[theblether]

Quite simply it's down to investment........a lot of sports are effectively barred to all but the richest countries due to the amount of money required to run an Olympic team.......and the sports that are open to all have the highest competition.

One of our Gold medallists, Scott Brash was struggling to find a good showjumper, he went to the Ukraine, found a good horse, and a benefactor wrote a cheque for 2 million pounds. I don't think you would see that happen in Thailand.

[forumuser10]

Strong in the arm, weak in the head?

very funny...

[forumuser10]

Why are there no Norwegian or Danish hockey players?

Why are there no Starcraft players in Slovakia?

Why are there no...

[DP25]

Thais have come very close to winning medals in badminton. They've had players come in 4th and 5th place several times. Very possible they can win a medal in that next time.

As for Americans not being able to ride bicycles, have you ever heard of the Tour de France and Lance Armstrong?

[SlyAnimal]

I think that in events where bigger, stronger, faster is the key, it's difficult for them to compete, because of the "bigger" factor. Since although there are some big people in Thailand they don't have a lot to find one with the right ability, training, discipline and motivation to be a world champion. In almost all sports, being tall / big is an advantage. And the best big guy, should always beat the best small guy in most sports.

By comparison, in Boxing, taekwondo and weight lifting there are weight divisions. As a result, they can more easily find that 1 in a million athlete, because a large proportion of the population are of that size. Comparatively other nations might struggle to find a very talented etc small guy.

Also money would limit some sports, as would the climate. I really can't imagine there being many Thai rowers, even in the lightweight divisions lol. Especially as they'd need to cover up to ensure they don't end up with black/tan skin lol

[StreetCowboy]

And sepak takraw.

And Muay Thai.

Our (their) beloved monarch was an Olympic sailor.

Their ladies' cricket team was only narrowly beaten by China in the Asian Games. Their ladies' rugby sevens team qualified for the World Cup in Dubai.

Why do farang know so little about Thai sport?

SC

[roamer]

Thais have come very close to winning medals in badminton. They've had players come in 4th and 5th place several times. Very possible they can win a medal in that next time.

As for Americans not being able to ride bicycles, have you ever heard of the Tour de France and Lance Armstrong?

" Four top U.S. cyclists -- all former teammates of Lance Armstrong -- removed their names from consideration for spots on the Olympic team before its announcement this week.

Levi Leipheimer, George Hincapie, Christian Vande Velde and David Zabriskie asked that they be taken out of the running for places on the road cycling team for the Summer Games, USA Cycling announced in a brief statement Saturday.

"USA Cycling will not speculate on the reasoning behind their requests and will not have further comment," the statement said. "Any questions related to their decision should be directed to the individual athletes."

http://espn.go.com/olympics/cycling/story/_/id/8060895/four-us-cyclists-opt-olympic-consideration

Drug testing more stringent at the Olympics

[Mossfinn]

Thais have come very close to winning medals in badminton. They've had players come in 4th and 5th place several times. Very possible they can win a medal in that next time.

As for Americans not being able to ride bicycles, have you ever heard of the Tour de France and Lance Armstrong?

" Four top U.S. cyclists -- all former teammates of Lance Armstrong -- removed their names from consideration for spots on the Olympic team before its announcement this week.

Levi Leipheimer, George Hincapie, Christian Vande Velde and David Zabriskie asked that they be taken out of the running for places on the road cycling team for the Summer Games, USA Cycling announced in a brief statement Saturday.

"USA Cycling will not speculate on the reasoning behind their requests and will not have further comment," the statement said. "Any questions related to their decision should be directed to the individual athletes."

http://espn.go.com/o...c-consideration

Drug testing more stringent at the Olympics

I don't think it is down to more stringent testing, testing in out of competition times is very strong throughout road racing. But keep an eye on this if you are interested, there are rumours and at this time I cannot provide a link, but I think these are all past time members of an Armstrong team who are providinging evidence that he took performance enhancing illegal drugs.

The others stated above cannot take part because they are incriminating themselves in the investigation.

[mca]

They tried water polo but the horses drowned in the klong.

[allane]

If sleeping was an Olympic sport....