Vietnam Olympics has no medals due to lack of technical innovation

After the 31st Southeast Asian (Oceanic) Games held in Hanoi in 2022, Mr. Tran Duc Phan, head of the Vietnamese sports delegation at that time, admitted that although Vietnam led the Ocean Games with more than 200 gold medals, the goal of the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, held in 2023, was quite modest – winning only three to five gold medals.

For the 2024 Paris Olympics, everyone is looking forward to it.

Results over recent years have confirmed this assessment.

At the Hangzhou Asian Games, Vietnam won only three gold medals, five silver medals and 19 bronze medals, behind Singapore, which also won three gold medals but won six silver medals, behind the Philippines with four gold medals, Malaysia with six gold medals, Indonesia with seven gold medals and Thailand with 12 gold medals.

At the Olympics, all the aspirations for winning medals are focused on young shooter Trinh Thu Vinh.

The 24-year-old delivered some sensational moments as she reached the finals in both the women’s 10m air pistol and women’s 25m rifle.

In the 10m air pistol event, Thu Vinh finished fourth, just one stage short of the medal.

However, the opposition was furious because the people who defeated her were all top shooters in the world, with a gap in professional level.

Other Vietnamese sports stars are still far behind Olympic medalists.

In swimming, Nguyen Huy Hoang, who won 11 Ocean Matches gold medals, failed to make the top 20 in both the men’s 800m and 1,500m freestyle events.

In weightlifting, which is Vietnam’s strength at the Olympics, Trinh Van Vinh was unable to lift weights effectively and died after the wrestling competition.

In badminton, despite their best efforts, Nguyen Thuy Linh and Le Duc Phat still could not pass the qualifying round.

Similarly, female boxers Ha Thi Linh and Vo Thi Kim Anh also did not make it to the quarterfinals.

Vietnam will send only 16 athletes to the 2024 Paris Olympics, the smallest number since the 2012 London Games, with most athletes mainly focused on experience rather than conflicts of reputation.

The heavy defeats at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games are a reminder for Vietnam’s passionate fans.

Not long ago, Hoang Xuan Vinh’s impressive performance in winning a gold medal and a silver medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics gave rise to false assessments that Vietnam was ready to have real strengths to make an impact.

While Xuan Vinh’s presentation had a lasting impact on him and several members of the Vietnamese shooting training team, it did not translate into supported strength.

Shooting has brought Vietnam some notable victories, including Pham Quang Huy’s gold medal in the men’s 10m air pistol event at the Hangzhou Asian Games and exciting moments at the Paris Olympics.

However, these achievements are still not enough to make Vietnam a formidable shooting force, even at the mainland level.

At the Hangzhou Asian Games, Indonesian shooter Muhammad Dwi Putra won two gold medals, helping his team surpass Vietnam.

Weightlifting has long been considered Vietnam’s unifying sport at the Olympics.

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Hoang Anh Tuan won the silver medal in the men’s 56kg category with a total lift of 290kg, only 2kg less than the gold medalist Long Qingquan.

After four years, Tran Le Quoc Toan continued to achieve this feat by winning a bronze medal in the same category at the 2012 London Olympics.

In any case, Vietnam’s weightlifting performance has declined since the Olympics.

At the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, Quoc Toan dropped to fifth place, and Thach Kim Tuan, who was confident of winning the award, failed in all three fast lifts.

At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Vuong Thi Huyen also won fifth place.

At Paris 2024, Trinh Van Vinh failed to qualify, while weightlifters from Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia beat him, with Thailand’s Theerapong Silachai taking the silver medal.

Vietnam’s decline in areas of serious strength often manifests itself in a virtual inability to compete in important games both domestically and internationally.

The 2024 Paris Olympics reflect a worrying reality for Vietnamese sports, which is struggling to produce champions in both professional and non-professional Olympic sports such as gymnastics, swimming and weightlifting.