Steady steering to Paris

INSPIRATION FROM THE GIRL FROM QUANG BINH

Many of Pham Thi Hue's former teammates have retired from the sport because rowing demands arduous training and hardship, requiring daily exposure to the elements, a milestone that is difficult to overcome by the age of 30. However, the scorching sun and torrential rain cannot break the will of this courageous woman from Quang Binh. At 34, Hue still trudges along the racetrack, strong and resilient.

Chinh phục đỉnh Olympic: Vững tay chèo đến Paris- Ảnh 1. — Pham Thi Hue competed in the Olympics at the age of 34 – a remarkable achievement in her memorable career.

Witnessing the extraordinary resilience of her senior, the younger generation feels admiration and takes Hue as a role model for overcoming difficulties. She has been a pillar of the rowing team for over a decade. She has walked a path of success with a series of major titles such as 3 silver and 2 bronze medals at the Asian Games, and 6 gold medals at various SEA Games... Yet, Hue always wants to conquer new heights.

Chinh phục đỉnh Olympic: Vững tay chèo đến Paris- Ảnh 2. — Pham Thi Hue (fourth from the left) at the send-off ceremony for the Vietnamese Olympic team.

Hue had qualified for the Olympics twice, in 2016 and 2020. Ironically, due to regulations from the organizing committee and the calculations of the Vietnamese rowing coaching staff, she missed out. And just when it seemed her Olympic dream would remain just a dream, a quiet period in the career of this athlete born in 1990, in the qualifying round at the end of April 2024, she secured her ticket to Paris, much to her overwhelming joy. She finished in the top 5 with a time of 7 minutes 53 seconds 08 – a position just enough to realize Hue's 16-year dream of rowing.

Chinh phục đỉnh Olympic: Vững tay chèo đến Paris- Ảnh 3. — The joy was boundless when Hue secured her Olympic qualification.

At 34 years old, having participated in the Olympics, achieved success at the Asian Games, and been crowned gold medalist at the SEA Games, Hue has all the achievements a dream athlete could wish for. When asked if the 2024 Olympics would be her stopping point, Hue simply smiled and said, "I don't have an answer for my future yet. I just keep trying every day in training and competition."

That's right! Hue hasn't found her stopping point yet because she doesn't know where her limits are. She always wants to conquer every challenge. The 2024 Olympics will be a special competition for Hue. "It's a big stage, every athlete wants to participate at least once. I've missed out twice, and participating this time brings indescribable emotions. Everyone knows that qualifying for the Olympics is already difficult for Vietnamese athletes. Therefore, at this competition, I will try my best to perform well," she confided.

Chinh phục đỉnh Olympic: Vững tay chèo đến Paris- Ảnh 4. — Huệ's other half

Chinh phục đỉnh Olympic: Vững tay chèo đến Paris- Ảnh 5. — A glimpse into everyday life!

Always setting clear goals, Huệ not only prepared mentally but also trained diligently to improve her skills. Immediately after her successful performance at the 2024 Southeast Asian Games, she began her final preparations for the 2024 Olympics. Training in Hai Phong , she has great support from her family. After many years apart, her entire family has moved to Hai Phong. This is a major source of strength for Huệ as she dreams of a successful Olympic Games. At this year's Games, she will face 28 very strong competitors, and the challenge will undoubtedly be immense.

Nguyen Thi Huong TOUCHES HISTORY

At the age of 14, Nguyen Thi Huong chose wrestling to begin her career. Unfortunately, she suffered her first major setback at 15 when her local wrestling team disbanded. Should she give up sports ? she wondered, and then answered herself: Never. She decided to switch to canoeing. And it was she who made a miraculous leap forward, spectacularly and unexpectedly securing a ticket to the 2024 Olympics.

Chinh phục đỉnh Olympic: Vững tay chèo đến Paris- Ảnh 6. — The petite girl Nguyen Thi Huong has brought glory to Vietnamese sports.

Before 2024, Vietnamese canoeing athletes had never participated in the Olympics. This was simply because the skill level of the athletes was still far behind that of the continent and the world. At the 2024 Olympic qualifying round held in Japan in April 2024, Huong participated with a very relaxed mindset. She admitted: "I decided to just go to exchange ideas and learn because in the qualifying round, I would be facing the same people who had just defeated me at the 19th Asian Games. When we compete again, I think it will be difficult to beat them."

Chinh phục đỉnh Olympic: Vững tay chèo đến Paris- Ảnh 7. — Nguyen Thi Huong (right in the photo) is small but resilient.

She didn't dream of a fairytale life, yet history called Huong's name with a ticket to Paris, leaving her overwhelmed with emotion. She finished second in the women's single sculls C1 (200m) event. Recalling that moment, she still choked up: "I couldn't believe it was true. Even now, thinking back, I'm still filled with excitement, emotion, and pride." In just a few months, Huong triumphed over herself and her competitors to write history for Vietnamese canoeing.

Behind that ticket, more precious than gold, lies a path full of hardships and bitterness for Huong. She was born into a farming family in Don Nhan commune, Song Lo district (Vinh Phuc province). Huong recounts: "When I was little, my family was very poor. My parents worked hard but still couldn't make ends meet, including my grandmother and my two sisters. In 2015, when the coaches from the Vinh Phuc Provincial Sports Training and Competition Center came to recruit, I immediately accepted." A naive 14-year-old girl thought, "I'll do sports to help my family because I'll be provided with food and education, not to pursue a high-level career, and I hadn't thought deeply about what sport to train in or how to train."

When it came to canoeing, Huong's only advantage was her physical fitness. She had accumulated quite a bit of strength from a year of wrestling training. Otherwise, everything else was a complete blank slate. She didn't even know how to swim and had to learn to swim for two weeks before officially starting canoeing.

Huong struggled with both professional and mental challenges while away from home due to her move to Hai Phong for training. Hardships constantly befell the 15-year-old girl. Huong recalled: "It was very difficult when I first started training. There were many sessions where I fell as soon as I climbed into the boat, and I don't know how many times I fell. Training in the summer was scorching hot. In winter, it was freezing cold, and the mist from the river made me numb. I trained very hard, sometimes not resting until 6 or 7 in the evening."

Chinh phục đỉnh Olympic: Vững tay chèo đến Paris- Ảnh 8. — The two sisters, Hue and Huong.

There were times when Huong felt discouraged, missed her family, and felt a pang of self-pity. "There was a time when I told myself I would quit training after finishing high school," she shared. However, her perseverance and resilience forged a steely spirit. "I thought about my family, and sometimes I would relax to reflect. And at that time, I started achieving success, earning more prize money, and improving my family's finances. From then on, I decided to pursue this sport, achieve higher results to help my family and myself more," she said.

The 2018 National Sports Games became a beautiful memory for Huong. The girl born in 2001 won three team gold medals, bringing her immense joy. From then on, her career progressed steadily. Two impressive milestones for her were five gold medals at the 31st SEA Games and a ticket to the 2024 Olympics. Sixteen of the world's best athletes will be her competitors. Like her senior teammate Pham Thi Hue, Huong has set a big goal: to compete to the best of her ability and advance as far as possible in the most challenging competition on the planet.