Athletes from the Vietnam delegation sail in a boat along the Seine river during the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics 2024 in Paris on July 26, 2024. (Photo by Mauro PIMENTEL / AFP)
Vietnam Team went home empty-handed after the last athlete failed to advance to the medal match at the Paris Olympics on August 8.
Canoeist Nguyen Thi Huong competed in the women’s C1 200m event. She is an unknown player among the world’s elite rivals as it is her first time in an Olympics.
In the qualification, Huong was against five players from Spain, Ukraine, Canada, France and Hungary and finished last at 49.74sec.
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She was dropped to the playoff against seven others. The two best ones qualify for the semi-finals. Huong paddled faster at 49.09sec and placed sixth, but officially out of the tournament.
On August 7, weightlifter Trinh Van Vinh, the final hope of a medal from Vietnam, could not make his task in the men’s 61kg class.
The former world champion failed in all three attempts in the snatch event as he registered a 128kg lift. A DNF (did not finish) was marked next to his name meaning that he was ousted from the event, no need to take part in the clean and jerk.
An overview shows Vietnam’s Trinh Van Vinh competing in the men’s -61kg weightlifting event during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the South Paris Arena in Paris, on August 7, 2024. (Photo by François-Xavier MARIT / AFP)
Vietnam Weightlifting Federation General Secretary Do Dinh Khang said Vinh’s defeat was not a shock as playing for the first time in an Olympics was not easy.
“Players need to manage their mentality, and physique and show their readiness. It was a challenge,” said Khang.
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“If the coaching board planned carefully about his first lift weight and Vinh could make just one successful lift, he would be strongly motivated for the next event as he was better in clean. It was a big regret in this case”.
Vinh was back in competition for 15 months after being banned for four years because of a doping violation.
Since then he has participated in several international tournaments but has not won any medals. His accumulated results from qualifiers pushed him to the world top 10 and he took an official ticket to Paris.
Vietnam sent 16 athletes to the Paris Olympics, competing in 11 sports. The highest results went to shooter Trinh Thu Vinh who finished fourth in the women’s 10m air pistol and seventh in the 25m pistol. The rest failed to make the finals.
It is the second Olympics in a row that Vietnam brought home no medal.
The next Games will be held in Los Angeles in 2028.