Keerati Bualong is a Thai

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the s ...

. In 2012, he became the first Thai to qualify for the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

in the men's one person

dinghy A dinghy is a type of small boat, often carried or towed by a larger vessel for use as a tender. Utility dinghies are usually rowboats or have an outboard motor. Some are rigged for sailing but they differ from sailing dinghies, which ...

, the same class of boat His Majesty The King of Thailand once sailed. He competed at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in the Men's Laser class. While harsh conditions proved overwhelming for the Thai sailor who did not do as well as expected, Keerati, 20, has already caught the attention of the international sailing community and is expected to achieve great things over the next ten years of his sailing career. A three-year plan to ensure his qualification and better results at the

2016 Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro ...

in Brazil is now coming together, the hunt for corporate sponsors to supplement funding by the

Sports Authority of Thailand The Ministry of Tourism and Sports ( Abrv: MOTS; th, กระทรวงการท่องเที่ยวและกีฬา, ) is a cabinet ministry in the Government of Thailand. The ministry's primary areas of responsibility are to ...

and the Yacht Racing Association of Thailand underway. Keerati was the first Asian to win the

Laser Radial The Laser Radial or ILCA 6 is a popular one-design class of small sailing dinghy, originally built by Laser Performance. It is a singlehanded boat, meaning that it is sailed by one person. The Laser Radial is a variant of the Laser standard, w ...

Youth Worlds and has many medals to his name.

Medals

Gold Medals: Asian Sailing Championships 2012 (Laser Standard) South East Asian (SEA) Games 2011 (Laser Radial) Asian Games 2010 (Laser Radial) Asia Pacific Laser Championships 2010 (Laser Standard) Laser Radial Youth World Championship 2009 (Laser Radial) Byte CII Asian Championship 2009 (Byte CII) Byte CII Asia Pacific Championship 2009 (Byte CII) Byte CII Open World Championship 2007 (Byte CII) Silver Medals: Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship 2010 (Laser Radial) Bronze Medals: Asian Beach Games 2008 (Laser 4.7)

References

Living people Keerati Bualong Keerati Bualong Sailors at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Laser Asian Games medalists in sailing Sailors at the 2010 Asian Games Sailors at the 2014 Asian Games Sailors at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Laser Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games Keerati Bualong Keerati Bualong Keerati Bualong Keerati Bualong SEA Games medalists in sailing Sailors at the 2018 Asian Games Competitors at the 2011 SEA Games Competitors at the 2019 SEA Games 1992 births Place of birth missing (living people) {{Thailand-yachtracing-bio-stub