Thailand’s Queen wins sailing gold at Southeast Asian Games

The Queen of Thailand won a gold medal in sailing on Thursday at the Southeast Asian Games, an international sporting competition organized until December 20 in her country. Aged 47, Queen Suthida competed in the SSL47 category, on 47-foot (14 m) sailboats with ten mixed crew members.

She played the roles of tactician and coxswain to lead the Thai team to victory in the turquoise waters of Pattaya, ahead of Malaysia and Myanmar. Her gold medal was presented to her in person by King Maha Vajiralongkorn, 73, whose fourth wife she became in 2019. He was dressed for the occasion in the same sports outfit as Thai athletes.

A true sports enthusiast

Former Thai King Rama IX was also a gold medalist in sailing at the 1967 Peninsular Southeast Asian Games, along with his daughter, Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya. A communications graduate, Queen Suthida worked as a flight attendant for Thai Airways before embarking on a career in the army.

This sports enthusiast ran a half marathon in 2 hours 13 minutes and 40 seconds on December 1 in Bangkok with Kenyan running legend Eliud Kipchoge. She also plays ice hockey. The sovereign led the Thai delegation during the opening ceremony of the 33rd Southeast Asian Games on December 9 in the capital.

Two days before the end of the events, Thailand, at home, is well at the head of the medal table ahead of Indonesia and Vietnam. Eleven countries were initially scheduled to participate in the competition, but Cambodia withdrew all of its athletes for security reasons due to ongoing clashes on the border with the organizing country.