Star swimmer named Vietnamese athlete of the year

Hoang was one of two swimmers to represent Vietnam at Tokyo Olympics last year. Although he didn’t make it past the heat round of the 800 and 1500 m freestyles, this was not considered a failure since the gap between Vietnamese swimming and other competing countries was huge.

In December, Hoang broke two national records in the 400 and 1500 m freestyles at 2021 FINA World Swimming Championships.

The 21-year-old is considered the biggest hope of Vietnamese swimming in SEA Games 31 that will take place in Vietnam in May.

Runner Nguyen Thi Oanh came second with 1,030 points, thanks to her impressive performance at the national championship. After winning gold in the 1500 m event, she broke the national record in the 5000 m event in 15 minutes and 53.48 seconds.

In third is taekwondo athlete Truong Thi Kim Tuyen with 698 points. She qualified for Tokyo Olympics in May 2021 then won gold at Asian Taekwondo Championship. In Tokyo, she defeated Yvette Yong of Canada in the round of 16 but lost to Israeli athlete Abishag Semberg in the next match.

The Best Coach award was given to Pham Minh Giang, who led the national futsal team past the group stage of Futsal World Cup.

The awards are presented by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union and the Vietnam Olympic Committee to athletes and coaches with outstanding achievements in 2021. The votes are collected from sports journalists nationwide.