Nguyen Thi Huyen: "Over the past 15 years, many times I have soaked my feet and cried"

Nguyen Thi Huyen decided to retire at the age of 30, after setting a miracle for Vietnamese sports with 13 gold medals at the SEA Games, 10 gold medals at the national championship and 3 Asian gold medals.

Reporter People intellectual had a conversation with the female athlete (athlete) considered a legend in the women's 400m hurdles event at her small house in Nam Dinh city.

Practice again when your baby is 3 months old

Why did Huyen decide to retire at the age of 30?

- I decided to retire for two big reasons. One is that at this time, I am no longer young and cannot fully complete the lesson plan as requested by the coach. The 400m running event requires a lot of physical strength, but now I often get shocked and even vomit when trying to complete the lesson plan.

Second, I have been married for 6 years and have had children for 5 years, and that is the time when I often have to be away from my family. When my baby was 3 months old, I weaned him to start exercising again.

Every mother always wants to be by her children's side, take care of her family, and the people she loves, but I myself have had to sacrifice a lot. So I think this is the right time to retire.

Huyen's decision to retire at this time is regretted by many people, because she is the Vietnamese athlete who has won the most gold medals at the SEA Games in the tournament's history. Experts say that Huyen is still capable of competing for a medal at the 2025 SEA Games, so why doesn't Huyen try one more SEA Games before retiring?

- Everyone just thinks like that, but two years is a very long time and I have entered the age of 30. At this age, physical strength and health will decline very quickly over time. Like at the recent SEA Games 32, my health at the beginning of the year and at the end of the year was very different.

If I was young, the more I exercised, the better my health would be, but when I get older, my health declines very quickly. I know that it is very difficult to ensure achievement and win medals at this age, so it is better to stop.

At the time Huyen got married and had a baby, many people thought Huyen would say goodbye to her top competition career. However, Huyen still returned and shined in the regional and continental arenas. At that time, did Huyen think she could be successful as a mother of one child?

- It's true that I myself never thought I would return to top competition. Almost all Vietnamese athletes quit when they get married and have children, especially in athletics. From the past until now, it seems that only Ms. Vu Bich Huong, an athlete in the 100m hurdles event, can return, but most of them cannot.

I also thought I wouldn't have the strength to go back. But in December 12, 2018 months after giving birth, when I saw young athletes competing, I felt the desire to compete like them, so I was determined to return.

At that time, I did not think that I could continue to achieve so many achievements, especially winning the 30th SEA Games gold medal after just over a year of having a young child.

When I first returned, I only hoped to win a spot in the women's 4x400m hurdles relay team, because at that time there were very strong female athletes like Nguyen Thi Hang and Quach Thi Lan. But luckily during training and competition, I achieved good results to participate in individual events at the SEA Games taking place in the Philippines in 2019.

During the training process, I always set clear goals for myself. But things are not easy, because if young athletes who don't have a family try their best, they have to work twice or three times harder. There were many periods when I felt very tired, suffered injuries and felt like I had to give up, but somehow I overcame it.

There were days when the pain was so bad that I had to soak my feet in an ice bucket, soaking them and crying. My mother-in-law also loved me very much and told me to stop playing, but I still told myself to try and not give up because of my passion.

So how does Huyen balance between competing and taking care of her small family?

- Personally, I feel very lucky to have a supportive family who always understands and encourages me to pursue my career. My family always sympathizes and supports me. My mother-in-law is very kind and loves her daughter-in-law.

Even luckier for me is that my husband was also an athlete and competed at the highest level, so he understood, encouraged, and shared with his wife. Not only does he help me take care of my children, but he also regularly encourages me and is my spiritual support anytime, anywhere as I pursue my career.

Having gone through many hardships in 15 years of competing at the highest level on the track, has Huyen ever wanted her daughter to follow in her mother's footsteps?

– I really want it. Many people think the sports path is very difficult, I know that too, but it is a choice that I do not regret at all. I was born into a very poor family, but sports helped me change and have a better life today. If my daughter also has the passion and can continue it, I will always support her wholeheartedly.

Couldn't hold back the tears on retirement day

During 15 years of competing at the top level, what was the moment Huyen found the most difficult and how did Huyen overcome it?

- It was 2016, a time when I had a lot of injuries. Before that, I had great success in 2015 when I won 3 SEA Games gold medals, broke 2 SEA Games records and met Olympic standards to be present at the 2016 Rio Olympics taking place in Brazil.

However, constant injuries in 2016 caused me to not be in good form, being eliminated right from the qualifying round and far behind the achievements I had achieved at the previous SEA Games. I also had conflicts and disagreements with the coach and everyone at that time thought my performance had gone down and I could no longer regain my form.

But I still try my best, practice hard, and my relationship with the coach becomes better than before. Immediately after that, I won 2 Asian gold medals in 2017, won 3 SEA Games gold medals as well as broke a SEA Games record. That was amazing.

Experts have commented that Huyen has done extraordinary things in athletics, unprecedented in Vietnam and rare in the world. What does Huyen think about everyone's praise?

- That's because everyone has given me so much love. I see those as words of encouragement and motivation for myself. As an athlete, when wearing the national flag in the international arena, I always try my best.

After the end of the 2023 national athletics championship on October 28, everyone saw Huyen burst into tears. Can Huyen share about her feelings at that time?

- Actually, at that moment, so many emotions burst out that I couldn't hold back. Although I had previously clearly determined that I would retire after the tournament ended, the emotions came too suddenly.

So many successes have passed, so many difficulties have been experienced, especially having to say goodbye to coach Vu Ngoc Loi, a teacher whom I respect and consider him as my father, so I just kept crying. So many memories combined with the teacher hugging me and crying made my emotions overflow.

Teacher Vu Ngoc Loi is sometimes more than my father, because he is the one who takes care of every piece of my food and sleep, and takes care of me every time I get sick during 15 years of top competition. If I have any problems in life, I often confide in my teacher and listen to his advice and encouragement. So when the teacher hugged me at the end of the run, I was very emotional.

TAfter 15 years of top competition with countless achievements, what can Huyen say to the young athletes who will succeed her in the future?

- I just want to share with you that you should always try your best, because in the process of pursuing your passion, you will encounter many problems such as injuries, fatigue, and pressure that will make you feel discouraged and even give up. But you should be more willful, try harder, and try harder and you will overcome everything to achieve success for yourself.

After retiring, does Huyen intend to become a coach to guide young athletes in the future?

- Sure. I hope that what I can do will more or less pass on experience to young athletes, and find the next young faces to help Vietnamese sports in general, and Vietnamese athletics in particular, continue to shine in the competition. regional as well as continental schools.

What message can Huyen convey to Dan Tri readers in this conversation?

- I just want to say a deep thank you to the fans and sports lovers who care about track and field athletes like me. We hope that all fans, especially Dan Tri readers, will always stand side by side and cheer for Vietnamese sports to continue to reach international level in the coming time.

Everyone's encouragement is a great motivation for me to achieve success in my past career.

Thank you Huyen for sharing!

Nguyen Thi Huyen was born in 1993, an athlete from Nam Dinh is the record holder of Vietnamese athletics. At the SEA Games, Nguyen Thi Huyen holds the record for winning the most gold medals at the Southeast Asian playground with 13 gold medals. She officially retired on October 28, after finishing the 10 national athletics championship.

At the 28th SEA Games in 2015, she excellently scored a hat-trick of gold medals in the 400m, 400m hurdles, and 4x400m events. At the 29th SEA Games in 2017, she successfully defended 3 gold medals. Nguyen Thi Huyen also won 2 more gold medals at SEA Games 30 in 2019, 2 gold medals at SEA Games 31 in 2022. At the last SEA Games 32 (2023) in her career, she shone with 3 gold medals.

In the larger arena of the Asian Championship, "mother of one" Nguyen Thi Huyen also excellently won 3 gold medals, including 2 gold medals in the 400m hurdles, 4x400m relay in 2017 and 1 gold in the 4x400m relay. 2023. In addition, Nguyen Thi Huyen was also honored to compete at the Brazilian Olympics in 2016.

Photo: Manh Quan