A gold medalist in taekwondo, Nguyen also part of Vietnam’s nat’l basketball team

Nguyen Van Hung. PBA IMAGES

It’s not every day that a two-sport athlete can represent his country in international competitions.

Vietnam’s Nguyen Van Hung is one of them.

Aside from being part of his country’s national basketball team, Nguyen also represented Vietnam in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and has won three gold medals in the Southeast Asian Games in taekwondo as a heavyweight.

The 37-year-old has been so successful in taekwondo that he decided to try challenge himself and try his hand at basketball.

“Every athlete who comes to the Olympics and gets a medal means you are the best and the highest-ranked athlete in that event. I felt very proud to represent the country. But when I swept the plus-87 kilograms and no one can pass me in the international competitions, that’s when I decided to train in another sport,” he said through a translator.

That shift seemed to have bode well with Nguyen as he earned spots in the Saigon Heat team in the ASEAN Basketball League and national team.

“I was playing basketball when I was a child. As I was training for taekwondo, I was playing basketball for physical training to improve my skill and strength,” he said. “Now, I can play as a player of the national team and the ABL. I’m very happy.”