From Drexel to the Olympics: The Legacy of Thailand’s First Winter Olympian

Prawat Nagvajara, PhD, plans to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of his 2006 Olympics the same way he celebrated the 20^th anniversary of his 2002 Olympics: watching the Games at home.

The cross-country skier is Thailand's first-ever Winter Olympian, but there won't be a big celebration. He still teaches at Drexel University, but the associate professor of electrical and computer engineering probably won't bring up his athletic history with his colleagues and students. For his first Olympics in 2002, he didn't even tell some of them until a few days before he left for Utah (as he points out, he was on a research sabbatical that year, which was helpful for training).

He still appreciates the support he received from the University community and colleagues in his department, who celebrated with a watch party, a reception and lots of congratulations.

"It was really special, as I did not expect it," remembered Nagvajara.

The same could be said of his Olympic dream.

He was inspired by another cross-country skier from a tropical country: Kenya's first-ever Winter Olympian, Phillip Boit. In the 1998 Games, Boit became a media sensation especially after his last-place finish, when the gold medalist, Norway's Bjørn Dæhlie, congratulated Boit at the finish line.

Nagvajara first saw snow when he came to America as a Northeastern University undergraduate student, but it wasn't until he saw Boit that he thought about going to the Olympics himself. He began training, completed the five mandatory races to qualify and received approval from the Olympic Committee of Thailand (his aunt advocated for him in a letter to its secretary general). Though Thai athletes had competed at the Summer Games for half a century, there was no precedent of sending them to Winter Games - until Nagvajara.

As a team of one, Nagvajara was always the flag-bearer. He paid for most of his training and accommodations and equipment. He broke his collarbone training on roller skis a few months before the 2002 Games. He stayed by himself in the Olympic Villages.

But he wasn't alone. His family took vacations to accompany him in Utah and Italy. His brothers back in Thailand hadn't even known there were Winter Games, but they watched his. And there were so many strangers-turned-supporters, he remembers. His volunteer coach signed on to train him three months before his first Olympics. The Bulgarian biathlon team members waxed his skis as a favor. A Utah company embroidered his Olympic jacket for free. He still smiles thinking about the professional athletes who marveled at his full-time job as a professor. And, of course, there were his students and colleagues cheering him on back in Philadelphia.

He's still thankful for all of it.

In 2002, Nagvajara finished 68th out of 71 competitors in the 1.5-kilometer sprint (he was lapped and consequently eliminated in the 30-kilometer freestyle). Four years later, he came in last, at 97th place, for the 15-kilometer classical.

For the 2002 Games, he got a lot of media attention for being the first, the only, the special. The New York Times called him "an anomaly, if not the ultimate underdog symbol of the Olympic spirit." Even now, he's sometimes included in lists of unique Olympians. He's gotten requests to discuss the Winter Games from a journalist or Olympic hopeful.

Nagvajara hasn't attended any other Olympics, though he and his family did return to Utah's Soldier Hollow Olympic cross-country skiing venue in 2006 (they visited the family that his family stayed with four years prior). Earlier this year, he was in touch with a fellow Olympic cross-country skier he met at that time.

He still has his Olympic memorabilia. His two sons have worn his long, black "Team Thailand" coat from the 2006 Games while living in Chicago, New York and Philadelphia (it's a conversation starter). But you won't find anything in his office on the University City Campus.

"I have little gifts from the Games, and I have them here and there in the house," he said.

There have been other Thai Winter Olympians who came after Nagvajara, though it took eight years for the next ones to qualify. Now there have been nine total, all for alpine skiing except Nagvajara and fellow cross-country skiers Karen and Mark Chanloung. The siblings will compete this year, as they did at PyeongChang in 2018 and Beijing in 2022.

Nagvajara will cheer on the Chanloungs, just like he's done for all the other Thai athletes. Besides the cross-country skiing events, he's excited to watch speed skating and hockey this year.

Plus, there's the comeback of Lindsey Vonn, the American alpine skier who also competed at the 2002 and 2006 Winter Olympics. He remembers when she was medically evacuated on a helicopter in Sestriere, Italy, where they and all the other skiers stayed. She later medaled at the 2010 and 2018 Games, retired and has returned to compete in the 2026 Milano Cortina Games. Now, she's two years younger than Nagvajara was at his first Olympics.

As for Nagvajara, he still skis every winter. He's used to making his own one-kilometer trail at South Ardmore Park near his home in Narberth. And he and his wife still plan vacations around cross-country skiing.

"The good places now are north of Syracuse, with lake-effect snow," he said.

They've already gone there once this winter and hope to go back soon. They're also going farther upstate in New York to attend the COOP FIS Cross Country World Cup Finals in March; he wants to see the official retirement of Jessie Diggins, the most decorated cross-country skier in U.S. history.

Nagvajara used to participate in citizen races almost every winter before the COVID-19 pandemic, but now he's happy just to get out on the snow. No one ever recognizes that there's a historic Olympian on the trails.