DEENOI Nawamin

General
EARLY DAYS
He says he had never heard of rowing before he took up the sport at age 13. "When my physical education teacher invited me to begin rowing, I wondered what rowing was, what did it look like, how did it work, because I had never heard about it. I packed a bag of clothes and rode on a tour bus with five friends [to Lam Takhong Dam in Thailand, where the national rowing centre was]. I didn't even know what part of the country Lam Takhong was. I only knew that I had to go for a month's trial. The most shocking part was that I couldn't swim. I had to pass the swimming test, and I didn't know that there was going to be one. But I trained for a long time and was finally able to swim. It was definitely not rowing in the way I imagined it. I thought, 'What am I doing here?' I really wanted to go home, it was so painful." (stadiumth.com, 30 Jun 2021)

BREAK AND RETURN
In 2018 he and lightweight double sculls partner Siwakorn Wongpin both decided to take a break from the sport to pursue a career in the Royal Thai Navy. After graduating as cadet sergeants in 2020, the pair returned to training originally aiming to compete at the 2021 Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi, Vietnam. They changed their focus to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo after the 2020 Olympic Games were postponed by a year, and qualified at the 2021 Asia and Oceania Olympic Qualification Regatta in Tokyo, Japan. "I have to admit that athletes can't go on forever. Therefore, we must look for stability in our lives. After graduating in late 2020, we discussed that we would be pairing up again to qualify for the 2021 Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam. But coincidentally, the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo were postponed by a year. Our seniors had to withdraw because they were called up for military service. We've been gone for two years, returned to training for only three months and all we were training for was the Southeast Asian Games. The Olympic qualifiers seemed impossible at first. I just never thought of it before." (stadiumth.com, 02 Jul 2021, 30 Jun 2021)