We need to retain skilled professionals.

Improving Vietnam's athletic performance in major international competitions requires many factors, the most crucial of which is having skilled experts and coaches. The lesson learned from Hoang Xuan Vinh's gold and silver medals and Olympic record-breaking achievements at the 2016 Rio Olympics shows that without the guidance of two excellent mentors, expert Park Chung-gun and coach Nguyen Thi Nhung, he would not have achieved such brilliant results.

Coach Nguyen Thi Nhung and student Hoang Xuan Vinh win the historic gold medal.

Expert Park Chung-gun and Trinh Xuan Vinh - Vietnam's number one athlete at the 2024 Olympics.

To this day, many in the professional community still vividly remember the story from before the arrival of expert Park Chung-gun, when Vietnamese shooting didn't even know which tournaments would award points for athletes to qualify for the Olympics. Expert Park Chung-gun and coach Nguyen Thi Nhung were the ones who researched and discovered the roadmap for these qualifying tournaments, proposing to the leaders of the General Department of Sports and Physical Training to send athletes to compete. As a result, both Hoang Xuan Vinh and Tran Quoc Cuong secured their tickets to the Rio 2016 Olympics.

Thanks to these two coaches, Hoang Xuan Vinh overcame his psychological weaknesses and was able to reach the top spot at the 2016 Olympic Games. After Coach Nguyen Thi Nhung left the team, expert Park Chung-gun continued with the shooting team and, since last year, he has taken on the new role of head coach of the Vietnamese shooting team.

Since taking on his new role as head coach of the shooting team, despite leading a new generation of inexperienced athletes, expert Park Chung-gun has molded them into warriors for the Vietnamese shooting team, achieving proud accomplishments. These include the gold medal won by shooter Pham Quang Huy at the 19th Asian Games and the two official tickets to the 2024 Paris Olympics for Trinh Thu Vinh and Le Thi Mong Tuyen.

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Among the Vietnamese Olympic athletes, Trinh Thu Vinh also had the best performance, reaching the finals in both events and finishing 4th in the 10m air pistol and 7th in the 25m sport pistol. This was also Trinh Thu Vinh's first Olympic appearance, and these achievements have led experts to believe that she will go far if she continues to be coached by Park Chung-gun and receives the right investment.

In a press release sent to news agencies on August 20th by the Vietnam People's Police Sports Association, the contributions of this expert from South Korea were also acknowledged: "Under the dedicated and passionate guidance of Coach Park Chung-gun, Trinh Thu Vinh performed excellently at the 2024 Paris Olympics, surpassing herself by achieving extremely impressive results against strong opponents on the world stage, reaching the finals twice in the 10m air pistol event (ranked 4th) and the 25m sport pistol event (ranked 7th)."

This is well-deserved recognition for the efforts of the South Korean expert, Mr. Park Chung-gun, who has considered Vietnam his second home. Under the guidance of expert Park Chung-gun, Thu Vinh's achievements have continuously improved, and Thu Vinh needs expert Park Chung-gun for the next stages of her journey.

Trinh Thu Vinh came very close to winning an Olympic medal.

For Vietnamese sports in general and Vietnamese shooting in particular, retaining talented coaches like Mr. Park Chung-gun will be the right direction in improving the performance of high-performance sports. In terms of achievements, the coach from South Korea has the most impressive resume among experts who have worked in Vietnam. He is the first and only coach to date whose students have won Olympic gold and silver medals and broken Olympic records. He is also the expert whose athletes won gold medals at the 19th Asian Games and whose athletes finished fourth in the air pistol event and seventh in the 25m sport pistol event.

Vietnamese sports need more experts like Mr. Park Chung-gun.

To attract a coach with such a track record, Vietnamese sports authorities would certainly have to pay a substantial salary, not just the current $6,000 per month that Mr. Park receives. Mr. Park Chung-gun is also very knowledgeable about the situation of each athlete in the national shooting team, as well as the internal workings of Vietnamese shooting, so he will surely make appropriate adjustments to future plans. "To have good athletes, you need good coaches"—Vietnamese sports must remember this saying if they hope to progress further on the world stage.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/the-thao-viet-nam-hau-olympic-2024-can-giu-lai-cac-chuyen-gia-gioi-185240820212501158.htm