Praphalsai "Waen" Minpraphal (; born January 7, 1978) is a Thai former swimmer, who specialized in butterfly, but also competed in backstroke and individual medley. She represented

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

in all three editions of the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

since 1992, and earned numerous medals in her own specialties at the

Southeast Asian Games The Southeast Asian Games, commonly known as SEA Games is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with sup ...

since 1991. While residing in the United States on her college career, she helped the

California Golden Bears The California Golden Bears are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Berkeley. Referred to in athletic competition as ''California'' or ''Cal'', the university fields 30 varsity athletic programs and various club te ...

set a new world record (1:49.23) and capture the 4×50 m medley title at the 2000

NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships The NCAA Division I women's swimming and diving championships are contested at an annual swim meet hosted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association to determine the individual and team champions of women's collegiate swimming and diving amo ...

. Minpraphal is among the Asian swimmers, along with

Joscelin Yeo Joscelin Yeo Wei Ling (; born 2 May 1979) is a former Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) from Nov 2006 to Apr 2011 and a former competitive swimmer from Singapore. Yeo won 40 gold medals at the Southeast Asian Games. She also represented ...

of Singapore and

Akiko Thomson Gillian Akiko Nakamura Thomson-Guevara (born October 8, 1974) is a Filipina television host, journalist and retired swimmer. She is the most accomplished Filipina swimmer in the Southeast Asian Games having won eight gold medals in the biennia ...

of the Philippines, to train for the Bears under women's head coach

Teri McKeever Terisa "Teri" J. McKeever (born November 6, 1961) is an American former college and Olympic swimming coach. She was the head coach of the California Golden Bears women's swimming team at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1993 until ...

Career

Early years

Minpraphal made her official worldwide debut, as a 14-year-old, at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

. She failed to reach the top 16 final in any of her individual events, finishing forty-second in the 200 m backstroke (2:26.32), thirty-seventh in the 100 m butterfly (1:04.28), twenty-fifth in the 200 m butterfly (2:20.48), thirtieth in the 200 m individual medley (2:23.24), and twenty-eighth in the 400 m individual medley (5:04.95). Shortly after her first Games, Minpraphal accepted an

athletic scholarship An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university or a private school, private high school awarded to an individual based predominantly on their ability to play in a sport. Athletic scholarships are common in the U ...

to attend the

Bolles School The Bolles School is an American private college preparatory day and boarding school in Jacksonville, Florida. It has a lower school (including pre-kindergarten), a middle school, and a high school, spread across four campuses around the Jackso ...

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, and train for

Gregg Troy Gregg Troy (born December 19, 1950) is an American professional and Olympic swimming coach. As of April 2021, he was the head coach for the Cali Condors, which was part of the International Swimming League. Until 2018, he was the head coach of ...

for the Sharks Swim Club. While swimming for Bolles, she established a school record in the 100-yard backstroke (55.99), and also captured meet titles in the backstroke (both 100 and 200 yards) and individual medley double (both 200 and 400 yards) during her entire high school season.

College career

After graduating from the Bolles School, Minpraphal attended the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

, where she majored in

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

and played for the

women's swimming and diving team, under world-class and head coach

, from 1996 to 2000. During her college career, she posted career bests in the 100-yard butterfly (54.54), 200-yard butterfly (1:58.58), and 400-yard individual medley (4:13.78), and received a total of twelve

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

honors. At the 2000

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

, during her senior year, Minpraphal shared a 200-yard medley title with

, Haley Cope, and Staciana Stitts in a short-course world record of 1:49.23.

International career

Competing for

internationally, Minpraphal broke national records in the backstroke, butterfly, and medley double. When her nation hosted the

1995 Southeast Asian Games The 1995 Southeast Asian Games, officially known as the 18th Southeast Asian Games, Chiang Mai, 1995 (), were a Southeast Asian multi-sport event held in Chiang Mai, Thailand from 9 to 17 December 1995. It was the first time that a non-capital ...

Chiang Mai Chiang Mai, sometimes written as Chiengmai or Chiangmai, is the largest city in northern Thailand, the capital of Chiang Mai province and the List of municipalities in Thailand#Largest cities by urban population, second largest city in Thailan ...

, she won a total of five medals: four golds each in the 100 m backstroke (1:04.87), 200 m backstroke (2:19.02), 200 m butterfly (2:15.60), and 400 m individual medley (4:54.24); and a silver in the 200 m individual medley (2:19.88). At the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, Minpraphal built a monstrous program of six swimming events. She placed twenty-first in the 100 m backstroke (1:04.61), thirtieth in the 200 m backstroke (2:21.82), twenty-eighth in the 100 m butterfly (1:03.35), twenty-fifth in the 200 m butterfly (1:03.35), thirty-fourth in the 200 m individual medley (2:22.34), and twenty-seventh in the 400 m individual medley (4:58.33). Three years later, at the

1999 Southeast Asian Games The 1999 SEA Games (), officially known as the 20th SEA Games and commonly known as Brunei Darussalam 1999, were a Southeast Asian multi-sport event held in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei. This was the first time Brunei hosted the Southeast Asian ...

Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Bandar Seri Begawan (BSB) is the capital and largest city of Brunei. It is officially a municipal area () with an area of and an estimated population of 100,700 as of 2007. It is part of Brunei–Muara District, the smallest yet most populous ...

, Minpraphal enjoyed the race of her life as she took home two golds in the 100 m butterfly (1:01.16) and in the 200 m butterfly (2:14.54). Minpraphal swam for her third Thai team in the 100 m butterfly at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. After winning two titles from the SEA Games, her entry time of 1:01.16 was officially accredited under a

FINA World Aquatics, formerly known as FINA (; ), is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administering international competitions in List of water sports, water sports. It is one of several interna ...

B-standard. She challenged seven other swimmers in heat three, including Ukraine's 17-year-old Mariya Ohurtsova, two-time Olympians Lee Bo-eun of South Korea and Eydis Konráðsdóttir of Iceland. Entering the race with a fastest-seeded time, Minpraphal held off a sprint battle from Ohurtsova to pick up a fifth spot by a hundredth of a second (0.01) in a time of 1:02.99. Minpraphal failed to advance into the semifinals, as she placed thirty-seventh overall on the first day of prelims.

References

External links