Olympia male student becomes MC and Youth Union Secretary of Vietnam Television

Nguyen Hoai Dam, former contestant of the 8th Road to Olympia, is currently an editor and MC at Vietnam Television.

In the 8th Road to Olympia, Nguyen Hoai Dam (former student of Le Huu Trac High School, Ha Tinh province, class of 2005-2008) was the first place in the week, first place in the month and entered the second quarter competition. That year, Hoai Dam ended his Olympia journey with third place in the quarter competition with the victory belonging to his friend Huynh Anh Vu - who later became the champion of the 8th Road to Olympia.

Nguyen Hoai Dam, a male student who participated in the Road to Olympia for the 8th year, is now an editor, MC, and Secretary of the Youth Union of Vietnam Television. Photo: Road to Olympia page.

Sharing with VietNamNet , Hoai Dam said he was surprised when his story was suddenly found and shared in recent days.

“People are probably interested because of their love for Olympia and the contestants of the program. Or maybe because they are curious about why Hoai Dam was so skinny in the past and whether he is still skinny now or if there is any difference,” the MC of Vietnam Television said wittily.

Born and raised in the poor mountainous district of Huong Son (Ha Tinh), for Hoai Dam, Olympia was like a dream, a beautiful milestone. Not winning the prestigious competition to be able to go further, at that time, the 11th grade student of Ha Tinh was full of regret.

“At that time, regret was the common feeling of me, many friends, teachers and people in the district. Actually, my initial goal was not to become the champion, but to bring the television bridge back to my hometown Huong Son mountain; also the second television bridge in Ha Tinh, after Mr. Phan Manh Tan - the champion of the second year of Road to Olympia. Unfortunately, that did not become a reality,” MC Hoai Dam said.

Nguyen Hoai Dam is currently an MC and editor at VTV5, Vietnam Television. Photo: NVCC

But because of that failure, Hoai Dam told himself to be more determined and try harder.

“At that time, I told myself that if I didn’t have this opportunity, I would find another one. Olympia and studying abroad are not the only paths to success. But it can be said that Olympia gave me a love. Participating in the program, witnessing the production stages of a television program, I began to nurture the dream of becoming a journalist - a good television person. And luckily, in the end, I still fulfilled my dream of studying abroad and experiencing life and learning environment abroad,” Hoai Dam shared.

Always with the desire to excel and the determination to study and graduate from high school, Hoai Dam took the exam and was admitted to the Television Journalism major of the Academy of Journalism and Communication. With impressive academic and training achievements at university, in his second year, the Ha Tinh male student was sent to study under an agreement scholarship in Russia, studying Journalism at Irkutsk State Technical University.

In Russia, in parallel with his studies, Hoai Dam participated in student television, collaborating with many newspapers and television stations in Vietnam.

Photo: NVCC.

After graduating and returning home, Hoai Dam proactively contacted journalist Tung Chi, who was then the Head of the Game Department, and met on TV 3, Sports - Entertainment and Economic Information Department, the person in charge of the program Road to Olympia to find opportunities.

“Luckily, I was accepted as an apprentice and then collaborated, even though I did not directly work on Olympia. I also tried to collaborate with some channels at VTV, VTC, VTVcab; apprenticed at the News and Weather Department and worked as a human resources officer at VTV5 from 2014 until now,” MC Hoai Dam shared.

The male MC is currently the Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union of Vietnam Television. He is also an outstanding young Party member in studying and following Ho Chi Minh's ideology, morality, and style in 2025 under the Government Youth Union; and received the title "Advanced Youth following Uncle Ho's teachings" in 2023 awarded by the Youth Union of Central Agencies...

Recently, he was also a member of the Vietnam Revolutionary Press Bloc participating in the A80 parade.

MC Hoai Dam said that until now, he still regularly watches the matches of Road to Olympia.

“Since finishing the competition, I, like many former Olympia contestants, have never missed a year’s final. Many times, even when I’m on a business trip, I still turn on my phone to watch. The young people are getting better and better, smarter, more talented, more individual and extremely dynamic. Every time I watch, I feel like I see a part of my youth there and I also learn a lot from them,” the male MC shared.

Photo: NVCC.

Hoai Dam believes that his work today is not a very successful thing, but from the perspective of a predecessor, currently a Youth Union officer and from personal experience, he wants to share with young people: "No one taxes dreams and so try to nurture them every day."

“Each stage of life will have different dreams. Whether simple or far-fetched, keep nurturing your dreams. The most important thing in life is probably having dreams and daring to dream. Personally, I could not have imagined that one day I could realize my dream of being a country boy, speaking with a strong local accent, becoming a news presenter on national television. So young people, keep dreaming, because at least we have something to aim for,” said MC Hoai Dam.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/nam-sinh-olympia-tro-thanh-mc-bi-thu-doan-cua-dai-truyen-hinh-viet-nam-2458848.html