Ratapong "Nuk" Sirisanont (; born July 1, 1976) is a Thai former swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke, but also competed in long-distance freestyle and individual medley. He is a four-time Olympian (1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004), a three-time Asian Games participant (1994, 1998, and 2002), and a seven-time SEA Games athlete (1991–2003). Regarded as Thailand's top swimmer, he has won a total of sixteen medals 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 1995, and six at the

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years for athletes of Asia. The Games were regulated by Asian Games Federation from the 1951 Asian Games, first Games in New Delhi, India in 1951, until ...

, including two golds in the 200 and 400 m individual medley. 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, ...

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, Sirisanont became the first Thai swimmer to reach the final twice (both 200 and 400 m individual medley). Sirisanont is also one of three Southeast Asian swimmers, along with Malaysia's Alex Lim and Philippines' Miguel Molina, to train for 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 ...

in the United States, under head coach Nort Thornton.

Swimming career

Early international career

Sirisanont began swimming at age seven, despite that he did not like the sport much at first. Admittedly, he had some breathing problems while jumping off into the water. In 1991, Sirisanont was selected to the Thai national team at his first

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

, where he won six medals (four golds and two bronze). His name was reached towards an early sport popularity, when he broke SEA Games records in three different events. Sirisanont made his first Thai team, as a sixteen-year-old teen, 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 ...

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. He was ranked about the "middle of the road" in his individual events, finishing twenty-seventh in the 1500 m freestyle (16:08.02), twenty-ninth in the 400 m individual medley (4:37.95), and thirty-ninth each in the 400 m freestyle (4:07.95) and 200 m individual medley (2:11.02). Shortly after his first Olympics, Sirisanont left his home nation

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 ...

to train for 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 ...

in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. While playing for Bolles, he had achieved numerous medals and school records in both long-distance freestyle and individual medley, including his first ever title from the Bishop Moore Invitational in Longwood, Florida, Longwood. When he qualified for the

1994 Asian Games The 1994 Asian Games (), also known as the XII Asiad and the 12th Asian Games () or simply Hiroshima 1994 (), were held from October 2 to 16, 1994, in Hiroshima, Japan. It was the first Asian Games in history to be hosted in a non-capital city. Th ...

in Hiroshima, Japan, Sirisanont made his name as Thailand's best swimmer after winning two gold medals in swimming. During the Games, his nickname ''Nuk'' was echoing around the Hiroshima Big Wave Pool, when he swam with only 100 metres left to race against China's Xiong Guoming in the 400 m individual medley. Sirisanont missed the title by less than one second behind Xiong in a time of 4:20.03, leaving his country's fans to a distress. Few days later, he was eventually awarded a gold when Xiong failed the doping test. At the

in Atlanta, Sirisanont competed in five swimming events, including his nation's place in the men's medley relay. He failed to reach the final (A or B) in two of his individual events, finishing twenty-sixth in the 100 m breaststroke (1:03.81), and twentieth in the 200 m breaststroke (2:17.32). After having a massive breakthrough at the Asian Games, Sirisanont had finally pulled off a top 16 effort in his two remaining tries. He placed fifteenth in the 200 m individual medley (2:05.02), and twelfth in the 400 m individual medley (4:26.35), which were both considered a best result for Thailand in swimming.

Golden Bears era

After graduating from Bolles School in 1997, Sirisanont moved to

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 ...

to attend college at 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 ...

. He was also a member of the swimming and diving team for the

under head coach Nort Thornton. In 1999, Sirisanont became the first swimmer in Southeast Asia to earn two Pac-10 Championship titles in the 200 m breaststroke and 400 m individual medley. When Thailand hosted the

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

in Bangkok, Sirisanont was expected to defend his titles in both 200 and 400 m individual medley. Before the start of the Games, he was rumored to be sick, and may lose his chances of claiming another gold medal because of failure to meet expectations from the SEA Games one year earlier. According to his Chinese coach, he had an allergy upon returning from the United States, and he went to get some medicine. Despite his media allegations, Sirisanont won only a silver and bronze medal in his home nation. He lost both of his titles to Japan's Takahiro Mori (400 m individual medley) and China's Xiong Guoming (200 m individual medley), who rivaled him in Hiroshima four years earlier. 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 ...

in Sydney, Sirisanont drastically shortened his program, swimming only in the 200 m breaststroke. Because he made poor decisions to drop most of his events, including the 200 and 400 m individual medley, Sirisanont delivered his worst Olympic feat with a forty-first-place effort on the morning prelims, finishing in a time of 2:23.95.

Redemption and retirement

Following his graduation from UC Berkeley in the spring of 2001, Sirisanont still continued to train for the California Golden Bears, but made his decision to consider retirement. In 2002, he rebounded from a severe distress by finishing second in the 200 m breaststroke (2:16.74) at the Janet Evans Invitational in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. Sirisanont's appearance from a said tournament also signified his official return to the Thailand national team for the

in Busan, South Korea. At his third Asian Games, Sirisanont won a bronze in the 200 m breaststroke, with his personal best of 2:15.81. He also campaigned for another medal in the 400 m individual medley, but pulled off with a seventh-place effort in 4:32.30. In his sixth and final

SEA 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 su ...

stint, Sirisanont emerged himself again as Thailand's best swimmer after nine years. He won a total of four gold medals each in the 100 m breaststroke (1:03.13, pulling away from his teammate Vorrawuti Aumpiwan in the final 25 metres), 200 m breaststroke (2:16.67), 200 m individual medley (2:03.54), and 400 m individual medley (4:23.20, barely touching out Philippines' Miguel Molina by 0.06 seconds in a close race). At the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

in Athens, Sirisanont decided to focus more on the breaststroke, in which he had performed poorly in Sydney four years earlier. After producing a best tally of four gold medals from the SEA Games, his entry times of 1:03.13 (100 m breaststroke) and 2:16.67 (200 m breaststroke) were officially accredited under a FINA B-standard. On the first day of the Games, Sirisanont started his prelim run with another poor result. He swam in heat four of the 100 m breaststroke with a reaction time of 0.77, but was eventually disqualified for a false start. In his second event, 200 m breaststroke, Sirisanont lowered his personal best of 2:15.39 to lead the third heat. Sirisanont missed the semifinals by 0.71 of a second, finishing his Olympic run in nineteenth overall from the preliminaries. Since his debut 1992, Sirisanont was among the swimmers who campaigned for their fourth Olympics, along with Carl Probert (Fiji),

Derya Büyükuncu Derya Büyükuncu (; born 2 July 1976) is a six-time Olympic backstroke and butterfly swimmer from Turkey. The tall athlete at is a member of Galatasaray Swimming. His coach is Zehra Büyükuncu. He participated in six consecutive Summer Olym ...

(Turkey),

Martina Moravcová Martina Moravcová (born 16 January 1976) is a Slovak Medley swimming, medley, butterfly swimming, butterfly, and Freestyle swimming, freestyle Swimming (sport), swimmer. She made her international swimming debut in 1991 for Czechoslovakia, and ...

(Slovakia),

Lars Frölander Lars Arne Frölander (born 26 May 1974) is a Sweden, Swedish swimming (sport), swimmer. He has competed in six consecutive Olympic Games (1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012). Biography Frölander was born in Boden, Sweden, Boden. He grew up i ...

(Sweden), and two-time freestyle champion Alexander Popov (Russia), who later became an official IOC member. Shortly after his fourth Olympics, Sirisanont officially announced his retirement.

References

External links