Vietnamese sports struggle to find Olympic medals

(QBĐT) - The athletes of the Vietnamese sports delegation are determined and trying their best to compete, but the 2024 Paris Olympics have great competition with the top names in world sports, so it is not easy to realize the goal of winning medals.

Regret Trinh Thu Vinh

The highlight of the Vietnamese sports delegation at the 2024 Paris Olympics is Trinh Thu Vinh's performance in the final of the women's 10m air pistol event. In the qualifying round, shooter Thu Vinh ranked 4th, so she is expected to compete for a medal when competing with 7 opponents in the final round. Thu Vinh became the second Vietnamese shooter to reach the final of an Olympic shooting event. Previously, Hoang Xuan Vinh reached the final and won the gold medal (HCV) in the men's 10m air pistol event at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Reaching the finals is the goal Trinh Thu Vinh has set for herself, but she wants to do more than that, namely compete for a medal in her favorite event. Thu Vinh's notable opponents include Oh Ye Jin, Kim Ye Ji (Korea), Li Xue, Jiang Ranxin (China), Major Veronika (Hungary), Bhaker Manu (India) and Sevval Ilayda Tarhan (Türkiye).

Despite her best efforts, the shooter from Thanh Hoa only scored 198.6 points, finishing 4th overall, missing out on the bronze medal. Despite missing out on the medal, finishing 4th in her first Olympic appearance is commendable for Trinh Thu Vinh. It should be remembered that before winning the 2016 Olympic gold medal, shooter Hoang Xuan Vinh also finished 4th at the 2012 Olympics.

Former head coach of the Vietnamese shooting team Nguyen Thi Nhung acknowledged that Trinh Thu Vinh had an excellent performance, competing fairly with medal-winning athletes at the 2024 Paris Olympics: “From a professional perspective, Thu Vinh completed her performance excellently. I affirm that Thu Vinh's final shot was excellent, with a much better result than usual. In the Olympic arena, there are all veteran, brave and world- famous athletes, but Vinh competed very fairly. In the qualifying round, Vinh ranked 4th, and in the final, he also ranked 4th. We are very sorry that Vinh could not win a medal.”

Trinh Thu Vinh is very close to the bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

There was something regretful about Thu Vinh when she competed steadily in the first series of shots. But it seemed that psychological problems caused the Vietnamese shooter to no longer maintain the necessary concentration to achieve the best score. Talking about this, former coach Nguyen Thi Nhung explained: “Shooting is one of the sports where it can be said that the psychological state can determine 80-90% of success or failure. Therefore, during the shooting process, the athlete who maintains the most stable psychological state will have the most chance of winning a medal. As for athletes who, during the shooting process, encounter states of score, anxiety, nervousness, and the desire for a medal, will encounter many difficulties.”

Head of the Vietnamese sports delegation at the 2024 Paris Olympics Dang Ha Viet commented: “Unfortunately, Trinh Thu Vinh could not overcome himself to win the medal. The final round was very fierce, in addition to the first 2 rounds of 5 shots to calculate the cumulative score, continuously in each round, every 2 shots, an athlete will be eliminated. This causes psychological problems for the shooters. Therefore, our athletes need to practice and make more efforts to overcome emotions, overcome external influences to be able to compete well in the final round.”

At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Thu Vinh has one more event, the women's 25m pistol. The qualifying round for this event will take place on August 2. According to experts, if Thu Vinh wants to enter the finals, she must score around 584-585 points.

“Recently, Thu Vinh has been outstanding in the women's 25m pistol event. This is also Thu Vinh's opportunity at the Paris Olympics. I think that in the next event, Thu Vinh and the experts will have the best preparation. Only the experts understand Thu Vinh best when coaching directly. The experts will grasp the psychological factors, grasp Thu Vinh's weaknesses to learn from each other," former coach Nguyen Thi Nhung commented.

The chance of winning a medal is fading away.

On July 29, boxer Ha Thi Linh faced No. 1 seed Yang Wenlu (China) in the round of 16, women's 60kg boxing. At the 19th Asian Games held last year in Hangzhou (China), Yang Wenlu defeated Ha Thi Linh in the round of 16 and then won the gold medal. In the rematch in France, Ha Thi Linh tried her best but could not create a surprise when she lost 0-5. All 5 referees in charge of the match gave Yang Wenlu a higher score than Ha Thi Linh in the 3 rounds.

Regarding the medal target of the Vietnamese sports delegation at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Mr. Dang Ha Viet shared: “We still have one more competition for Thu Vinh. This is also her forte. Trinh Thu Vinh herself is also trying very hard and determined to find opportunities, with the possibility of reaching the finals to compete for medals. In addition, we have many events where athletes will continue to compete in weightlifting, rowing, cycling... opportunities are still ahead for our sports delegation.”

Another notable face, swimmer Nguyen Huy Hoang could not enter the final after achieving a very low result in the men's 800m freestyle qualifying round. A total of 31 swimmers competed in the qualifying round, divided into 4 groups. The 8 swimmers with the best results will participate in the final. At the end of the competition, Huy Hoang could not enter the final when he finished in 5th place with a time of 8 minutes 08 seconds 39, 19.90 seconds behind the leader Auboeck Felix with a time of 7 minutes 48 seconds 49.

Huy Hoang could not enter the finals to compete for a medal. This was an early result predicted because the level of Vietnamese athletes in swimming was far lower than that of their opponents. But what is worth mentioning is that Huy Hoang's achievement was inexplicably low compared to his inherent ability as well as his previous impressive stats.

At the 19th ASIAD, Huy Hoang won the bronze medal with a time of 7 minutes 51 seconds 44. Further, at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, also in the 800m event, the swimmer from Quang Binh achieved a time of 7 minutes 54 seconds 16. In both the biggest arenas of Asia and the world, Huy Hoang showed stability in his achievements.

Huy Hoang's career best result is 7 minutes 49 seconds 67. Thus, he has fallen about 19 seconds compared to his peak performance. The Quang Binh swimmer still has one more event at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the 1,500m on August 3, and hopes that he will compete at his best to at least get a ticket to the final...

Vietnamese sports are facing many difficulties and challenges in the Olympic arena. Athletes Le Thi Mong Tuyen (shooting), Hoang Thi Tinh (judo), and Vo Thi Kim Anh (boxing) have stopped early. Currently, Vietnamese sports expect athletes in shooting, rowing, cycling, and weightlifting to create surprises to achieve the goal of winning medals.

South Giao

Source: https://www.baoquangbinh.vn/the-thao/202408/the-thao-viet-nam-gian-nan-di-tim-tam-huy-chuong-olympic-2220012/