PyeongChang, Korea, January 23, 2024: The International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) has described Thailand’s silver medal in bobsleigh as “phenomenal” at the Winter Youth Olympic Games.
Agnese Campeol, 17, was the silver sensation, finishing second in the women’s monobob at the Alpensia Sliding Centre on Monday.
Nobody was prouder of her achievement than Nicola Minichiello, event delegate of the IBSF.
“It’s amazing,” Nicola said in an interview with the OCA on Tuesday.
“Thailand have put a lot of effort and energy into getting involved in sliding sports and it’s been incredible to see their evolution.
“The fact that Agnese was able to perform yesterday (Monday) in coming in second place with the silver medal at the Youth Olympics is just phenomenal.
“It’s phenomenal for Thailand, it’s phenomenal for Asia, it’s phenomenal for her as a person, also for the sport as a whole. For the IBSF it shows that, especially in monobob, it’s a truly diverse sport that anyone can perform in. It’s really great to see Thailand and I am just happy they are part of our sliding family.”
The British official said she had not counted out the Thai athletes in the race for the podium, as she was well aware of their qualities during the IBSF development programme.
“From the very beginning, their professionalism and their dedication and their hard work was admirable. You really know in this sport, despite where you come from, if you put the work in, especially in the youth programme, you actually can perform because equipment is not a factor.
“We provide a centralized programme and so the hard work really impacted on their driving and on their start and I am just so happy to have seen it come together.”
As the IBSF youth coordinator/manager, Nicola is in her fourth Youth Olympic cycle now and has seen the Thais come through.
“We started this programme as a two-year qualification process so last season we saw Thailand come,” she said.
“They were instantly a hit with their positivity, with their attitude, and again with their dedication and work ethic. They have been a full part of this programme now for two seasons. For me, the wonderful thing is that we see athletes from countries, from such diverse nations, such a range of nations, and a full global representation coming together in one common community for one goal – and that’s using sport to create a better life.”
Regarding this Winter YOG qualification cycle, Nicola added: “We have circumnavigated the globe a couple of times now. We have been in America with them, we have been in Europe for six races, we have been here twice to PyeongChang for four races on separate occasions, so it was a 12-race qualification process at six different venues on three continents.
“Thailand have attended almost all the races and that dedication and that commitment that they made has allowed them to really develop and be competitive with the best on the world stage.”
Financial support from the sports authorities back home in Thailand is supplemented by Olympic Solidarity, the IBSF and the New Horizons programme of Gangwon province to sustain the legacy of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics.