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Fake gift angers medal winner
Khon Kaen _ An athlete-turned-politician has discovered that a tiny gold dinosaur he received for bringing home an Olympic medal from Atlanta is a fake.
Vicha Rachanont, a Chart Thai candidate in constituency 8, ran out of money and decided to pawn the dinosaur to fund his election campaign.
After examining the dinosaur, a gold shop offered him 200 baht.
The former Olympic boxer received the dinosaur along with three other athletes _ Somluck Khamsing, Pongsith Wiangwiset and Somrot Khamsing _ from Somsak Khunngern and Premsak Piayura after returning from Atlanta in 1996 with a bronze medal.
Mr Vicha said yesterday the discovery has destroyed his faith in people.
``There are still a lot of crooks in our society,'' he said, adding it would also discourage young athletes.
Prisana Kham-oun, 32, a worker at the Wutthichai gold shop, said acid testing revealed the dinosaur was 80% brass and 20% gold.
If the shop bought it, it would have been for a souvenir, she said.
``But Mr Vicha decided to keep it for his children to play with,'' she said.
Mr Somsak, who is running against Mr Vicha on the Thai Rak Thai ticket, distanced himself from the scandal.
The candidate said he gave 5,000 baht to the people in charge of casting the dinosaurs and had no idea if they were pure gold or fake.
Mr Somsak criticised Mr Vicha for going public about this, saying the miniature was only meant as a gesture of goodwill.
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