PyeongChang, Korea, January 22, 2024: Thailand has a new sporting hero – and it’s in winter sports!
At the Alpensia Sliding Centre on Monday, January 22, 17-year-old Agnese Campeol won the silver medal in the women’s monobob of the bobsleigh competition at the Winter Youth Olympic Games Gangwon 2024.
Denmark’s Maja Voigt took the gold medal in 1:53.31; Campeol was just 0.86 seconds slower in 1:54.17, while Romania’s Mihaela Alexia Anton won the bronze with a time of 1:54.34.
Campeol is one of 20 Thai athletes at the fourth Winter YOG following a determined drive from the National Olympic Committee of Thailand, the Sports Authority of Thailand and the national sports associations to unearth winter sports talent.
After speeding to an unlikely silver medal, Campeol, nicknamed Ann, admitted: “I’m so confused, and so proud. I was a little bit nervous at the start, but I said to myself, 'I can do it'.
“This is big, so big. This is Thailand history - the first Winter YOG medal for Thailand. I want to keep going, I want to go to Milan-Cortina 2026. I will push 100% no matter what. No matter the result.”
Looking back on her start in the sport, she added: “I started with the Ski and Snowboard Association of Thailand. They wanted to look for athletes who wanted to go to the Winter Youth Olympic Games, and I wanted to go.”
She said she also received financial and technical support from winter sports programmes and legacy foundations from the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics.
“At the start, I didn’t know what bobsleigh was about at all. But I wanted to try. Bobsleigh is like The Hulk driving a Ferrari. I really like that.
“I have to fight with myself. It’s me against myself. When I’m nervous, I chew gum, and listen to music.”
Campeol said she trained in Bangkok, sprinting and lifting weights, and travelled to Korea for a few months a year for technical training and race experience at a sliding centre.
The fact she is from tropical Thailand means she goes under the radar by the established winter sports powers, but this made her even more determined to shake up the establishment.
“I have to push myself more. The Europeans are bigger and bulkier and Asians are a little small. I have to eat more, a lot of carbs and protein,” she said.
“I’m strong at driving. My push is probably 60% of what the Europeans are like, so I practise driving a lot. I see where I’m going down the track and fix problems. If I go too high, I have to slow down. If I go low, I have to prepare.”
Regarding the reaction of her friends and family to her taking part in bobsleigh, she said: “They think I’m crazy. At first, my parents didn’t know what I was doing. But I wanted to do it, so they supported me.”