The former world champion earned it decisively in his final Olympic bout. Somjit then held up a photo of Thailand King Bhumibol Adulyadej before kneeling to pray as hundreds of his countrymen waved flags in the stands and chanted his name.

Mr. Somjit said earlier that he wanted to won the gold medal for his son, and he successfully did it, closing his boxing carrier gloriously.

Four years ago, it was light welterweight Manus Boonjumnong who was displaying the same picture in the ring, along with his gold medal. But Manus was decisively beaten by Felix Diaz of the Dominican Republic 12-4 in an absolute brawl.

Manus continuously was beaten to the punch by Diaz, who won the first gold in boxing for his Caribbean nation.

"Even though I would like to have had the gold medal, the silver is satisfactory," Manus said. "I am the first Thai to win medals in consecutive games.

"It wasn't such a surprise (to lose). My opponent fought very good today and I accept it." He did find it difficult to accept landing several punches early in the fight and not getting any points. Of course, that seems to happen in every bout.

"Frankly, I lost concentration after the first round," he said, "especially when my score did not go up after three clear punches.

"We did all we planned and my punches went well. There was nothing wrong with my performance but the judges."

Mr. Manus, 28 is notorious at home for being a playboy who squandered prize money worth about Bt20 million within months after claiming the light welterweight gold in Athens in 2004.

But he returned to the limelight by winning the Asian Games gold medal in 2007, vowing his bad habits would be a thing of the past.

Thailand overall won two gold medals and two silver medals in the Beijing Olympic Games. The first gold medal came from "Nong Kae" Prapawadee Jaroenrattanatarakoon in the women's weigh lifting 53kg category, and a silver medal from Buttree Puedpong in the women's taekwondo 49 kg division.