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Thai Prapawadee says name is magic

Sarah Hardach
BEIJING
Sun Aug 10, 2008 7:01am EDT

BEIJING (Reuters) - Thai weightlifter Prapawadee Jaroenrattanatarakoon not only has one of the longest names of the Olympics, but also one of the luckiest.

A fortune-telling nun advised the 24-year-old last year to change her name from Chanpim Kantatian to improve her luck, and the charm seems to have worked -- Prapawadee won her first Olympic gold medal in the women's 53kg class on Sunday.

"A fortune teller told me if I changed my name I would go far, so I changed it because I wanted to go to the Olympics," Prapawadee told reporters after her win. "Last time I didn't make it, and now I wanted to go in."

The extended name didn't quite work its magic all the way -- Prapawadee failed in her attempt to lift a record-breaking 130kg in the clean and jerk.

(Reporting by Sophie Hardach and Douglas Hamilton; Editing by Alex Richardson)


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