Sadly the 84-year-old grandmother of Sinphet Kruaithong collapsed and died on Monday, while watching the weightlifter’s achievement in Rio on a projector in his home town in Thailand.
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Sinphet Kruaithong competes during the men’s 56kg weightlifting event at the Rio 2016 Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro. However, soon joy turned into tragedy as Subin collapsed and died, “AFP” news agency reported.
She was not conscious and taken to Chumphon Buri Hospital, where she was announced dead an hour later.
The 121-pound Sinphet lifted 289 kilograms (roughly 637 pounds) to finish third behind China’s Long Qingquan and North Korea’s Om Yun Chol.
A crowd of local people had gathered in front of the television at the home of the Thai weightlifter in Ban Phon Muang of Chumphon Buri district of the northeastern province of Surin to cheer him on. I miss my grandson and want him to be successful.
Thailand have so far won four gold medals in the Olympic Games weightlifting competition, all of them from women’s weightlifters including Pawina Thongsuk in the 75kg class at the 2004 Athens Games.
A police officer reportedly said the assumption was that Khongthap died of heart failure, although nothing was confirmed as of Monday afternoon.
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‘I’m not sure if she was too excited, or if maybe she was already ill, ‘ he added.
