So far, Thailand's participations in the track and field events of the Olympic Games have been primarily aimed at helping its athletes gain "international exposure" -- this could all change at Paris 2024 early next month.
Thai sprint phenom Puripol Boonson and discus thrower Subenrat Insaeng have both qualified for this year's Games and are in the final phase of their local training in Bangkok.
Both are scheduled to depart for Paris on Saturday.
The 18-year-old Puripol, dubbed "Angel Bew" by the Thai media, will be making his Olympic debut and is keen to clock a sub-10-second time in Paris, which would earn him a membership to the elite club of sprinters.
The qualifying heats of the men's 100m dash will be staged on Aug 3 with the semi-final and final races scheduled for the following day.
Thai discus thrower Subenrat Insaeng.
Subenrat will be first Thai athlete to get in the act when she takes part in the women's discus throw competition on Aug 2 when she will make her third appearance in the world's biggest sporting event.
Her best effort in the discipline was recorded at 60.33m at the 2019 Manila SEA Games, which is a far cry from the gold medal-winning throw of 68.98m by Valarie Allman of the United States at the 2020 Tokyo Games.
Puripol qualified for Olympics when he climbed up to No.45 in the latest rankings announced by World Athletics after he clocked 10.23sec to win the 100m event at the Kasanov Memorial 2024 in Almaty, Kazakhstan, recently.
Subenrat, 30, made the Games roster when she received a last-minute invite from the World Athletics last week.
While Subenrat, a Surat Thani native who has dominated the SEA Games scene since 2011, isn't expected to pull off any miraculous feat in Paris, Puripol does ignite the flame of hope for the Thai sports fans.
The young Thai star recently revealed that he has set himself the target of going under 10 seconds for the first time in his career and that he was working very hard to achieve that goal.
The sprinter added that he would be trying his best to reach the semi-finals of the 100m event at the Paris Games.
Puripol, a native of the northeastern province of Surin, won the 100m silver medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games last year, clocking his personal best time of 10.06sec.
He was also a part of the Thai 4x100m relay team that won a gold medal at the Asian Championships last year.
At the age of 16, Puripol became a triple SEA Games champion after winning the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay races in Hanoi in 2022 to draw comparisons with retired Jamaican sprint king Usain Bolt.
Puripol will have extra motivation to do well at Paris 2024 since his last appearance in a high-profile multisport event had ended in a major heartbreak at the 2023 SEA Games in Phnom Penh.
Tipped for a successful defence of his 100m, 200m and 4x100m titles won a year earlier in Hanoi, the Thai teenager failed to finish the 200m race with muscle spasms in his left thigh and was ruled out for the remaining 100m individual and relay meets to return home empty-handed.
He has fought back and recovered from that setback well, putting on impressive performances at a number of important events.
