Last Vietnamese athlete out, Việt Nam go home without a medal

Olympics

Nguyễn Thị Hương in action in the women’s C1 200m event in Paris Olympics on August 8. VNA/VNS Photos

PARIS — Việt Nam Team go home empty handed after the last athlete fails to advance to medal-match at the Paris Olympics on August 8.

Canoeist Nguyễn Thị Hương competes in the women’s C1 200m event. She is unknown players among the world elite rivals as it is her first time in an Olympics.

However after all medal hopes were dashed, Hương is expected to make a surprise.

In the qualification, Hương was against five players from Spain, Ukraine, Canada, France and Hungary and finished last in a time of 49.74sec.

She was dropped to the playoff against seven others. Two best ones qualify for the semi-finals. Hương paddles faster at 49.09sec and places sixth, officially out of the tournament.

Trịnh Văn Vinh falls after failing to lift 128kg in the men’s snatch event of the men’s 61kg category on August 7.

Earlier, on August 7 night, weightlifter Trịnh Văn Vinh, the final hope of medal of Việt Nam, 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 meaned that he was ousted from the event, no need to take part in the clean&jerk.

Việt Nam Weightlifting Federation General Secretary Đỗ Đình Kháng said Vinh’s defeat was not a shock as playing first time in an Olympics was not easy.

“Players need to manage their mentality, physique and show their readiness. It was a challenge,” said Kháng.

“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&jerk. It was a big regret in this case”.

Vinh was back to competition for 15 months after being banned four years because of doping violation.

Since then he has taken part in number of international tournament but did not won any medal. His accumulated results from qualifiers pushed him to the world top 10 and he took an official ticket to Paris.

Việt Nam sent 16 athletes to the 33rd Olympics, competing in 11 sports. The highest results went to shooter Trịnh Thu Vinh who finished fourth in the women’s 10m air pistol and seventh in the 25m pistol. The rest failed to make finals.

It is the second Olympics in a row that Việt Nam brought home no medal.

The next Games will be held in Los Angeles in 2028. VNS