Panipak Wongpattanakit

Flying Officer

Panipak Wongpattanakit

TBh

Panipak at the 2018 Asian Games
Personal information
Nickname	Tennis
Nationality	Thai
Born	(1997-08-08) 8 August 1997 (age 27) Bandon, Surat Thani, Thailand[1][2]
Alma mater	Chulalongkorn University[1]
Height	171.0 cm (5 ft 7 in)[1]
Website	Panipak Wongpattanakit on Facebook
Military career
Allegiance	Thailand
Service / branch	Royal Thai Air Force
Years of service	2021–present
Rank	Flying Officer
Sport
Sport	Taekwondo
Coached by	Choi Young-Seok[1]
Medal record Women's Taekwondo Representing  Thailand Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 2 0 1 World Championships 2 2 1 Asian Games 2 0 1 Asian Championships 2 1 0 Grand Slam 2 0 0 Grand Prix 12 2 1 Total 22 5 4 Olympic Games 2020 Tokyo 49 kg 2024 Paris 49 kg 2016 Rio de Janeiro 49 kg World Championships 2015 Chelyabinsk 46 kg 2019 Manchester 49 kg 2017 Muju 49 kg 2023 Baku 49 kg 2022 Guadalajara 49 kg Asian Games 2018 Jakarta-Palembang 49 kg 2022 Hangzhou 49 kg 2014 Incheon 46 kg Asian Championships 2014 Tashkent 46 kg 2016 Pasay 49 kg 2024 Da Nang 49 kg Grand Slam 2018 Wuxi 49 kg 2019 Wuxi 49 kg Grand Prix 2017 Moscow 49 kg 2017 London 49 kg 2017 Abidjan (F) 49 kg 2018 Taoyuan 49 kg 2018 Manchester 49 kg 2019 Chiba 49 kg 2022 Paris 49 kg 2022 Manchester 49 kg 2022 Riyadh (F) 49 kg 2023 Rome 49 kg 2023 Taiyuan 49 kg 2023 Manchester (F) 49 kg 2015 Samsun 49 kg 2018 Fujairah (F) 49 kg 2015 Mexico City (F) 49 kg SEA Games 2017 Kuala Lumpur 49 kg 2019 Manila 49 kg 2021 Hanoi 49 kg 2023 Phnom Penh 49 kg 2013 Naypiydaw 49 kg FISU World University Games 2017 Taipei 49 kg 2019 Naples 49 kg 2023 Chengdu 49 kg Youth Olympics 2014 Nanjing 44 kg Asian Youth Games 2013 Nanjing 47 kg Asian Junior Championships 2013 Jakarta 44 kg

2018 Asian Games podium

Panipak "Tennis" Wongpattanakit (Thai: พาณิภัค วงศ์พัฒนกิจ; RTGS: Phaniphak Wongphatthanakit; born 8 August 1997) is a retired Thai taekwondo athlete.^[3] A two-time Olympic champion, she is currently the top-ranked athlete in the women's 49 kg.^[4]

Early life

Born in Surat Thani in southern Thailand. Panipak is the youngest child of a family of three siblings. She lost her mother when she was young. Her father, a civil servant teacher, loved sports, so he nicknamed all his children after sports were Bowling, Baseball, and Tennis, respectively. Her elder sister (Bowling) and brother (Baseball) are also former swimmers.

Panipak started practicing taekwondo because she wanted to go to Phuket with her friend who was competing in taekwondo there. Her father allowed her to go but on the condition that she had to compete too. At that time, she was already practicing taekwondo but didn't pay any attention to it. She competed and lost every match. Then she started to take it seriously and eventually became a professional taekwondo athlete.^[5]

Career

Panipak became a world champion at the 2015 World Taekwondo Championships, claiming a gold medal in the 46 kg event which was her first world title. She claimed a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the –49 kg class during her first Olympic appearance for Thailand.^[6] She nearly quit taekwondo out of frustration after the Olympics and took a brief break from the sport for about two months.^[7]

She claimed a bronze medal in the women's flyweight event at the 2017 World Taekwondo Championships. She claimed her first Asian Games gold medal during the 2018 Asian Games in women's 49kg event. She won the gold medal in the women's flyweight event during the 2019 World Taekwondo Championships.^[7] She was awarded the Female Athlete of the Year by the World Taekwondo during the 2019 World Taekwondo Gala Awards.^[8][9]

She also represented Thailand at the 2020 Summer Olympics and claimed a gold medal in the women's 49kg event.^[10][11][12] This win also became the first Olympic gold medal win for Thailand in taekwondo. Panipak was also awarded Thailand's first and only gold medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics.^[13][14]

She won the silver medal in the women's flyweight event at the 2023 World Taekwondo Championships held in Baku, Azerbaijan.^[15] At the Rome Grand Prix in June 2023, she won her tenth gold medal in the women's 49 kg event, making her the first athlete to do so.^[16]

In the 2024 Summer Olympics she won gold medal again in the women's taekwondo 49kg category, becoming the first Thai athlete to win two consecutive Olympic gold medals and the first Thai three consecutive Olympic medalist.^[17] Before the tournament, she announced that this would be her last match, as the training was too intense for her body.^[18]

Personal life

After the 2024 Summer Olympics, she revealed that she was dating fellow taekwondo practitioner Ramnarong "Junior" Sawekwiharee but had to keep it a secret for 9 years because there was a rule that prohibited national athletes from being lovers.^[19]

Career highlights

• Three-times Olympics Medalists (Gold: 2024, 2020 Bronze: 2016)
• Two-times World Champions (2019, 2015)
• Two-times Asian Games Gold Medals (2022, 2018)
• Youth Olympics Gold Medal (2014)

Royal decorations

• 2020 – Companion (Third Class) of The Most Admirable Order of the Direkgunabhorn^[20]
• 2022 – Companion (Fourth Class) of The Most Noble Order of the Crown of Thailand^[21]

See also

• List of Youth Olympic Games gold medalists who won Olympic gold medals
• List of Olympic medalists in taekwondo

References

1. "Athletes Profile asiangames2018.id". Archived from the original on 31 August 2018. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
2. "ครอบครัวจัดเต็ม เปิดจอยักษ์ ลุ้นเหรียญเทควันโดโอลิมปิก". pptv (in Thai). 18 August 2016. Archived from the original on 14 September 2016. Retrieved August 19, 2016.
3. "Taekwondo - WONGPATTANAKIT Panipak". Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 24 July 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
4. "Thai stars kick off quest for Games glory". Bangkok Post. 23 July 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
5. MCOT News FM 100.5 (2024-08-08). "#เจาะลึกประเด็นร้อน (8ส.ค.67)". Facebook (in Thai). Retrieved 2024-08-08.
6. "Taekwondo at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Games: Women's Flyweight | Olympics at Sports-Reference.com". 4 January 2018. Archived from the original on 2018-01-04. Retrieved 2021-07-24.
7. "History beckons for favourite taekwondo exponent Panipak". Bangkok Post. 24 July 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
8. "Jang and Wongpattanakit named athletes of the year at World Taekwondo awards". www.insidethegames.biz. 7 December 2019. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
9. "Jang and Wongpattanakit crowned athletes of the year at World Taekwondo Gala Awards 2019". en.mastkd.com. 12 December 2019. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
10. Rujawongsanti, Wanchai (24 March 2021). "A Korean coach with a Thai heart". Bangkok Post. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
11. "2020 Summer Olympics — Taekwondo – Women -49kg Schedule". 2020 Summer Olympics. Archived from the original on 22 July 2021. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
12. "Draw sheet" (PDF). 2020 Summer Olympics. 23 April 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 July 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
13. "Panipak Wongpattanakit wins Thailand's first Olympic Taekwondo gold". Tokyo 2020. Archived from the original on 30 July 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
14. "Panipak wins Thailand's first gold at Tokyo Games". ESPN.com. 24 July 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
15. Burke, Patrick (31 May 2023). "Dramatic final makes Dinçel one of three winners at World Taekwondo Championships". InsideTheGames.biz. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
16. "Wongpattanakit and Elsharabaty win to conclude Rome World Taekwondo Grand Prix". www.insidethegames.biz. 11 June 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
17. ""เทนนิส พาณิภัค" สร้างประวัติศาสตร์คว้าเหรียญทองโอลิมปิก 2 สมัยซ้อน". Siamsport (in Thai). 2024-08-08. Retrieved 2024-08-08.
18. Sawatdee, Wallop (2024-03-06). ""โอลิมปิก 2024" และการเสียสละครั้งสุดท้ายของ "เทนนิส" พาณิภัค วงศ์พัฒนกิจ". Main Stand (in Thai). Retrieved 2024-08-08.
19. หน้า 8 กีฬา, 'เทนนิส-จูเนียร์'ตำนานรัก9ปีจิกซอว์ความสำเร็จ. ข่าวสดวันพฤหัสบดีที่ 22 สิงหาคม พ.ศ. 2567 ปีที่ 34 ฉบับที่ 12,321 Thai: ภาษาไทย
20. "ประกาศสำนักนายกรัฐมนตรี เรื่อง พระราชทานเครื่องราชอิสริยาภรณ์อันเป็นที่สรรเสริญยิ่งดิเรกคุณาภรณ์ ประจำปี ๒๕๖๓ (หน้า ๖๔)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on January 29, 2021. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
21. "พระบรมราชโองการ ประกาศ เรื่อง พระราชทานเครื่องราชอิสริยาภรณ์อันเป็นที่เชิดชูยิ่งช้างเผือกและเครื่องราชอิสริยาภรณ์อันมีเกียรติยศยิ่งมงกุฎไทย ชั้นต่ำกว่าสายสะพาย ประจำปี ๒๕๖๕" (PDF). Retrieved 28 July 2024.

External links

• Panipak Wongpattanakit profile at World Taekwondo
• Panipak Wongpattanakit ranking at World Taekwondo
• Panipak Wongpattanakit at TaekwondoData.com
• Panipak Wongpattanakit at Olympics.com
• Panipak Wongpattanakit at Olympedia