Tran Thi Nhi Yen and Vo Thi My Tien, both 19 years old, from Long An , will participate in the 2024 Olympics with a wildcard entry granted to promising athletes – Photo: HOANG TUNG
At the 2024 Olympics, Nhi Yen will compete in the 100m race, while My Tien will vie in the 200m individual medley.
Following in the footsteps of her predecessor, Le Tu Chinh
Tran Thi Nhi Yen was born in 2005 in Long Huu Tay commune, Can Duoc district, Long An province. She showed early athletic talent from the 8th grade, but it wasn't until the end of the 11th grade that Yen officially began training professionally in track and field at the local level.
During a training session at the National Sports Training Center in Ho Chi Minh City (Center 2), Nhi Yen had the good fortune to meet Coach Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong (the coach who had previously trained "speed queen" Le Tu Chinh). This was a turning point that helped her progress rapidly.
At the end of 2022, after winning a gold medal at the national youth championships, Nhi Yến stunned Vietnamese athletics by winning a gold medal in the 100m and a silver medal in the 200m in her first appearance at the National Sports Games.
By 2023, Nhi Yen shone brightly in her two favorite events, the 100m and 200m, sweeping all the gold medals at domestic competitions and setting two new national youth records. In her international debut, she also won one bronze and one silver medal at the 32nd SEA Games and twice ranked among the top 8 fastest athletes in Asia.
In many cases where young talents achieve early success, in addition to exceptional innate abilities, a strong mindset and unwavering character play a significant role.
Coach Thanh Hương's account may explain why Nhi Yến progressed so quickly.
Coach Thanh Huong shared: “Yen has a good mentality and what sets her apart is her ability to observe and analyze to filter out what's best for herself. In the early days of training at Center 2, there was one session where she kept looking over at the men's team.”
Then Yen came to ask to… race, and no one could catch up. When we went to compete abroad, I pretended to ignore her a few times to see how she would handle difficulties, and each time she surprised me.”
For her part, when asked about her rapid progress in athletics, Nhi Yen humbly stated that she was simply trying her best in what she had practiced. "I need to improve my skills more, such as my starting ability and my sprint to the finish line," she said.
Currently, in addition to focusing on her professional career, the girl from the Vam Co river region is honing her foreign language skills.
Yen said: "Many times during international competitions, foreign colleagues would try to strike up a conversation, but I would just stammer. Therefore, I want to learn English, not only for communication and making international friends, but also to delve deeper into professional materials."
Nhi Yen on the podium receiving the gold medal at the 2022 National Sports Games – Photo: HOANG TUNG
Breaking even Anh Vien's record.
Vo Thi My Tien was born in 2005 in Long An. In recent years, she has become a phenomenon in Vietnamese swimming, achieving many successes both domestically and internationally.
What's special about My Tien is her versatility, as she can compete in many different distances. At the 2023 National Swimming Championships, she won 9 gold medals across short (100m), middle (200m, 400m) and long (800m, 1,500m) distances.
At the end of the year, she was awarded the title of best female athlete at the 2023 National Swimming Championships for Outstanding Athletes, after winning 10 gold medals, 2 silver medals, and 1 bronze medal.
My Tien was already famous before that. At the age of 14, the girl from Long An broke two records held by Nguyen Thi Anh Vien in the 200m individual medley and 400m individual medley for the 14-15 age group.
Vo Thi My Tien's journey into swimming was quite serendipitous. No one in her family had ever pursued a career in sports before. Everything came about purely by chance when she was discovered by coaches from Long An during a talent scouting event.
At that time, My Tien was only 10 years old. Seeing a shy little girl who, after a trial swim, showed satisfactory results, the coaches asked her family for permission to let Tien train with them, and they agreed.
My Tien will participate in the 200m individual medley at the 2024 Paris Olympics – Photo: Provided by the interviewee.
Thanks to her talent and perseverance, Vo Thi My Tien has consistently been selected to participate in major tournaments. In 2023 alone, she competed in all three important competitions: the SEA Games, the Asian Games, and the World Championships. To date, Vo Thi My Tien has competed in two SEA Games and won a total of five medals (two silver and three bronze).
In early July, the International Swimming Federation (FINA) sent a letter confirming that My Tien had been granted a wildcard entry to the 2024 Paris Olympics in the 200m individual medley. While My Tien's chances of reaching the Olympic finals are quite low, the opportunity to go to Paris and compete against world-class swimmers is a great honor for her.
Go to the Olympics to learn.
For decades, even the most illustrious names in Vietnamese athletics and swimming, such as Nguyen Thi Huyen, Quach Thi Lan, Anh Vien, and Huy Hoang, have been unable to achieve their dream of an Olympic medal (or even reach the finals).
The chances of the two young girls, Nhi Yen and My Tien, receiving a wildcard entry were obviously slim. Nevertheless, a week of training and competing at the Olympics – a competition that millions of athletes worldwide dream of – offered Nhi Yen and My Tien a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. This was both an honor, a motivation, and a valuable lesson for both of them to grow and contribute to Vietnamese sports in the future.
Tuoitre.vn
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/dieu-thu-vi-ve-hai-co-gai-long-an-nhi-yen-my-tien-20240726140020895.htm
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