"LET ME STICK TO THE END OR… DIE TO ME"
Nguyen Thi Huyen shared that when she started her competitive career, she was not chosen for the 400m event but for the 800m: "Almost no athlete dares to "jump" into the 400m event right from the start, because it is the event that requires the most qualities, including both endurance and speed; the most strenuous training and the most intense competition compared to the remaining events".
Nguyen Thi Huyen and daughter
Nguyen Thi Huyen stretches on the running track - PHOTO: NGOC DUONG
Of the 5 consecutive SEA Games, Huyen was most impressed with the 28th SEA Games (2015). This was the first SEA Games that Huyen participated in an individual event (not counting the relay race at the 26th SEA Games in 2011) and immediately scored a hat-trick of a lifetime, breaking 2 SEA Games records and achieving 2 Olympic standards. The most impressive performance for Huyen was at the 32nd SEA Games in 2023, when after 10 hurdles, she was still behind her opponent. When about 30 meters from the finish line, the golden girl of Vietnamese sports suddenly accelerated, launched a spectacular sprint, gradually narrowed the gap and took the lead in the last 6 meters, surprising the Filipino runners.
Nguyen Thi Huyen (second from right) and her teammates won the relay gold medal.
"I don't dare say anything about the Olympics, but at the SEA Games, if you let me follow you closely, you'll be dead to me in the final stages!", the undefeated champion of the SEA Games said jokingly. "The race... is a close race in the final stages" is real. Huyen analyzed the expertise in depth: "In athletics, there are two types of strength: one is stiff strength, the other is flexible strength. Stiff strength will help runners achieve great bounce and form in the early stages, but in the final stages, they can be stiff and unable to lift their thighs. And that is the opportunity for flexibility to break away and turn the tables." Saying that Nguyen Thi Huyen is "weird" on the racetrack is precisely because of that powerful strength.
There are times when my legs feel like they are "evaporating"
Nguyen Thi Huyen shared about her decision to retire at the age of 30, after 15 years of competing: "Actually, my decision was not multiplied by any even number, but simply because my legs at that time were really crying out to their owner, that they were too tired. In the morning, I couldn't even push the blanket aside, and when I held my child, my legs were about to collapse. In the last tournament, I thought I would lose."
The huge medal collection of the golden girl of Vietnam - Photo: NVCC
And the greatest fortune of her life... - Photo: NVCC
"My legs are so tired, let's go find a chair to rest" - like the famous song by musician Trinh Cong Son?", I asked. "Oh, why does that song seem to speak for my heart?", Huyen exclaimed.
After 15 years of exhausting herself on the 400m track, Huyen's career is splendid with a brilliant list of achievements: 13 SEA Games gold medals, 10 national championship gold medals, and 3 Asian championship gold medals.
"Stopping at the 13th SEA Games gold medal for myself, that is already great for me, there is nothing to regret. Perhaps, I could have shined earlier than before at the 2013 SEA Games, if not for the sad incident. Two days before leaving for the competition, I suddenly tore my thigh muscle, all the effort of 2 years of training was gone in an instant", Huyen recalled.
In Nguyen Thi Huyen's illustrious career, there was a slump that made her confused, that was in 2016. "After the successful competition at the 28th SEA Games, my performance suddenly declined, my mentality was unstable, there were disagreements between teachers and students... Luckily, I finally overcame it to regain my strength in time for the 29th SEA Games in 2017", Huyen recalled.
Nguyen Thi Huyen carries the torch before Vietnam prepares to host the 31st SEA Games
"For 15 years, I had to make the most of each day. On scorching hot days, my feet sometimes felt like they were "steaming", even bleeding from the rubbing of my shoes. Even in the freezing cold, I still stuck to the road, sometimes even getting nosebleeds...", Huyen said.
But the hardest part is being away from my child. "My child was only 3 months old when I went back to practice, and I was weaned at 5 months. Every night when I came home, my child would cling to me as if he was afraid I would leave again. Every 30 minutes, every hour, he would wake up, reach out to me, and cry to be held. But it was that love that motivated me to run, because those sacrifices of mine, my child, and my husband must be rewarded," the mother of two confided.
In the movie Tracktown, written, directed and starring by female track and field athlete Alexi Pappas (who competed in the 2016 Rio Olympics), the female protagonist struggles with the question: "If I don't run, who am I?", "Who am I if I don't compete?".
Our "Queen of Track and Field" has answered that question: She doesn't want to be the fastest runner forever, but also needs to be the one who knows when to stop.
Nguyen Thi Huyen was born in 1993 in Y Yen, Nam Dinh (now Ninh Binh province); her specialty is the 400m race with the following events: 400m, 400m hurdles and 4x400m relay. She is the first athlete to achieve 13 gold medals in track and field in the history of the SEA Games and is an undefeated champion of 5 consecutive SEA Games, with a huge medal collection: 13 gold medals at the SEA Games, 10 gold medals at the national championship, 3 gold medals at the Asian championship.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/su-nghiep-long-lay-cua-nguyen-thi-huyen-185250714220920203.htm
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