The 7 most successful Vietnamese athletes in the SEA Games

Of the nearly 950 Vietnamese athletes attending the 31st SEA Games, there are three top performers at the Games, including Nguyen Thi Huyen, Nguyen Thi Oanh (athletics) and Dinh Phuong Thanh (gymnastics), with the same eight gold medals. . Player Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son ranked fourth with six gold medals in chess. And Le Thanh Tung (gymnastics), Nguyen Tien Nhat and Nguyen Thanh An (fencing) won five gold medals.

Nguyen Thi Oanh was a member of the Vietnam 4x400m team that won the last three Games. But she not only ran 400m, but also practiced many other middle distances such as 800m, 1,500m and 3,000m obstacle course.

At the 2017 SEA Games, Oanh won the 800m and 1500m gold double, helping Vietnam dominate these two events continuously since 2001. At the 2019 Games, Bac Giang runner continued to defend the above two events, with a gold medal. 3,000m obstacle course. Oanh also tried her hand at the 42km running content, when she finished the most times VnExpress Marathon. Huyen and Oanh are expected to continue to reap gold medals this year.

Nguyen Thi Huyen won six individual and two team gold medals in the last three SEA Games. At the 2015 SEA Games in Singapore, Nguyen Thi Huyen finished first in the 400m, 400m hurdles and 4x400m relay. In which, the following two contents, she broke the congress record. Two years later in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Huyen successfully defended all three championships, including the 400m hurdles record. In 2019 in the Philippines, she again won the 400m and 400m hurdles gold double, but did not run with the 4x400m relay team anymore.

Also with six individual gold medals and two teammates like Huyen, Phuong Thanh currently the most successful athlete in Vietnamese gymnastics. At the 2015 SEA Games, Hanoi athletes won four gold medals, in the content of singles, doubles, all-rounders and teammates. Two years later, he defended the double bar and team gold medal. In the 2019 SEA Games, Phuong Thanh topped the single and double bar.

In the same age group as Phuong Thanh, Thanh Tung also won five gold medals, including jumping against and team 2015, jumping against, team and bar in 2017. But these two athletes will face many difficulties if they want to win the gold medal this year. , before the rise of world champion Carlos Yulo (Philippines).

Compared to the number one Vietnamese player Le Quang Liem, Truong Son competed less in recent years. But he is still the most successful Vietnamese player in the SEA Games. Kien Giang player first attended the Games in 2005, when he was 15 years old, but won four gold medals including standard chess, individual and team chess. In 2013, Truong Son again won the golden double of the fast and lightning flag. This time, Truong Son participated in two events including standard chess and individual fast chess. After four standard games, he was second with three points.

The other two athletes who won five SEA Games gold medals all came from fencing. Swordsman Tien Nhat used to hold the Vietnamese flag in the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics, and he also won the gold medal for the individual and team trilateral in 2015. The Ho Chi Minh City swordsman defended the individual content in 2017, when there was no team event. . At the 2019 Congress, Tien Nhat won the golden double again like four years ago.

Still Thanh An also won the SEA Games gold medal in the same content as Tien Nhat, except that this Hanoi swordsman played sword and slash. Thanh An also held the Vietnamese flag at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Tien Nhat and Thanh An are expected to defend the golden double at home at SEA Games 31.

As of May 12, there are two more athletes who have won five SEA Games gold medals, namely Pham Thi Hue and Pham Thi Thao of rowing, when they finished first in the final of the four women’s two-oar heavyweight boat on May 11.

Xuan Binh