It wasn't hard work alone that paved the way for Thai weightlifters' momentous accomplishment in the 2016 Rio Olympics -- the Thai Amateur Weightlifting Association had operated like a clandestine outfit to ensure the success as well.
The outcome of the all hush-hush Tawa mission was an unprecedented haul of two gold, one silver and one bronze medals, which earned Thailand a respectable place on the long list of medal winners at Rio 2016.
With 15 gold medals at stakes in weightlifting in Rio, Thailand, who had nine lifters in the tournament, finished second behind mighty China, who dominated with five golds.
The members of the Thai weightlifting team were Sopita Tanasan (women's 48kg), Sukanya Srisurat (women's 58kg), Pimsiri Sirikaew (women's 58kg), Siripuch Gulnoi (women's 63kg), Withoon Mingmoon (men's 56kg), Sinphet Kruaithong (men's 56kg), Tairat Bunsuk (men's 69kg), Chatuphum Chinnawong (men's 77kg), and Sarat Sumpradit (men's 94kg).
The two gold medallists were Sopita and Sukanya, while Pimsiri claimed the silver and Sinphet the bronze.
Maj Gen Intarat Yodbangtoey, a former Tawa president who now acts as an advisor to the association, credited its systematic and long-term training for the success.
He said a lot of careful planning had also gone into it.
Sopita moved from 53kg to compete at 50kg for two years. However, the fact that she regularly trained at 48kg remained a closely-guarded secret, said Intarat.
"She secretly trained at 48kg and did quite well. We believed she could get a medal at the Olympics but the whole thing was never made public," he added.
In an interview with a local TV, Intarat said that among the nine lifters, seven had been well-prepared for the Games.
"In fact, I thought we had seven athletes who were all in with a chance of winning medals. But at the time, I did not tell anybody," he said.
"However, getting four medals and two top-four finishes can only be deemed as success.
"There is still a chance of more medals coming our way, that is if any of the medallists fail doping tests and our fourth-placed weightlifters get promoted."
The success of the Thai weightlifters marked a number of milestones for the contingent as Sopita's triumph on Aug 6 ended Thailand's eight-year gold-medal drought at the Olympics.
Thailand had won a gold medal at every edition of the Games since boxer Somluck Kamsing bagged their first in 1996 in Atlanta. However, the golden run came to a halt in London four years ago, when they took home just one silver and two bronze medals.
The gold medal won by Sukanya in Rio is Thailand's fifth overall Olympic weightlifting title and the country's first in the 58kg division. The three previous gold medals were won in the 53kg (Prapawadee Jaroenrattanatarakoon in 2008 and Udomporn Polsak in 2004) and 75kg (Pawina Thongsuk in 2004) categories.
Pimsiri became the only Thai weightlifter to win medals -- both silver -- in two Olympic Games in a row. She had also finished second in her category at London 2012.
The success of both Sopita and Sukanya also marked the first time that Thailand have two gold medallists in the same sport at a single edition of the Games.
Sinphet also became the first-ever Thai man to capture a men's weightlifting medal.
Intarat added that the Tawa worked with a budget of about 60 million baht per year and its athletes train on a regular basis.
Tawa president Boossaba, who is Intarat's wife, said: "I am very proud of my athletes. They had worked very hard for the Games."
