Nootcharin Sukkhongdumnoen ( th, นุชจรินทร์ สุขคงดำเนิน; born February 10, 1978 in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

) is a Thai

taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean martial arts, Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast k ...

practitioner, who competed in the women's featherweight category. She claimed the silver medal in the 51-kg division at the

1998 Asian Games The 1998 Asian Games (), officially known as the 13th Asian Games and the XIII Asiad, was an Asian multi-sport event celebrated in Bangkok, Thailand from December 6 to 20, 1998, with 377 events in 36 sports and disciplines participated by 6,554 ...

in her native

, retrieved a bronze at the 2003 World Taekwondo Championships in

Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany Garmisch-Partenkirchen (; Bavarian: ''Garmasch-Partakurch''), nicknamed Ga-Pa, is an Alpine ski town in Bavaria, southern Germany. It is the seat of government of the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen (abbreviated ''GAP''), in the Ob ...

, and later attained a fifth-place finish in the 58-kg category at the 2004 Summer Olympics, representing her nation

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

. Sukkhongdumnoen qualified for the Thai squad in the women's featherweight class (57 kg) at the 2004 Summer Olympics in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, by defeating Uzbekistan's Irina Kaydashova for the top spot and securing a berth from the Asian Olympic Qualifying Tournament in her native

. Sukkhongdumnoen had to deal with tough crowds at the start of the tournament, as she upset the Greek favorite and two-time Olympian Areti Athanasopoulou on the marginal judging decision, resulting to a 6–6 draw and a storming protest from the opposition. Following her surprising victory in the opening round, Sukkhongdumnoen defied odds to pummel Chinese Taipei's

Chi Shu-ju Chi Shu-ju (; born 27 November 1982) is a Taiwanese taekwondo practitioner and Olympic medalist. She competed at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city ...

in the quarterfinals by a narrow 2–1 margin, before she fell short on the referee's decision to U.S. taekwondo neophyte and eventual silver medalist

Nia Abdallah Nia Nicole Abdallah (born January 24, 1984) is the 2004 Olympic silver medalist and the first U.S. woman to officially medal in Taekwondo at the Olympic Games. In 2007, Abdallah was inducted into the Taekwondo Hall of Fame. Early life Abdalla ...

in the semifinals. When Abdallah progressed to the final, Sukkhongdumnoen gave herself a chance for the Olympic bronze medal in the repechage, but dropped abruptly to a 3–6 decision against Spain's Sonia Reyes in her first playoff, relegating Sukkhongdumnoen to fifth position.

References

External links

* 1978 births Living people Nootcharin Sukkhongdumnoen Nootcharin Sukkhongdumnoen Taekwondo practitioners at the 2004 Summer Olympics Taekwondo practitioners at the 1998 Asian Games Asian Games medalists in taekwondo Nootcharin Sukkhongdumnoen Nootcharin Sukkhongdumnoen Medalists at the 1998 Asian Games Nootcharin Sukkhongdumnoen Southeast Asian Games medalists in taekwondo Competitors at the 2001 Southeast Asian Games World Taekwondo Championships medalists Asian Taekwondo Championships medalists {{Thailand-taekwondo-bio-stub