  The J/psi yield at midrapidity at the top RHIC (relativistic heavy ion
collider) energy is calculated within the statistical coalescence model, which
assumes charmonium formation at the late stage of the reaction from the charm
quarks and antiquarks created earlier in hard parton collisions. The results
are compared to the new PHENIX data and to predictions of the standard models,
which assume formation of charmonia exclusively at the initial stage of the
reaction and their subsequent suppression. Two versions of the suppression
scenario are considered. One of them assumes gradual charmonium suppression by
comovers, while the other one supposes that the suppression sets in abruptly
due to quark-gluon plasma formation. Surprisingly, both versions give very
similar results. In contrast, the statistical coalescence model predicts a few
times larger $J/\psi$ yield in the most central collisions.
