WORDS ON THE STREET 70th anniversary of Hanoi's Liberation Day Vietnam - Asia 2023 Smart City Summit Hanoi celebrates 15 years of administrative boundary adjustment 12th Vietnam-France decentrialized cooperation conference 31st Sea Games - Vietnam 2021 Covid-19 Pandemic
Jun 17, 2016 / 16:59

20 Vietnamese athletes win chances to compete in 2016 Olympics

The General Department of Sports and Physical Training said the Vietnamese sports has gained 20 places to compete 10 sports in the 2016 Summer Olympics that will be held in Brazil`s Rio de Janeiro, from August 5-21.

Of which, fencing and weightlifting each won four places, while badminton, gymnastics, shooting, and wrestling each have two. The four remaining places are in athletics, Judo, swimming and rowing. 
Vietnamese sports has so far reached only two medals at the Olympics, including one silver medal in Taekwondo won by Tran Hieu Ngan at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and another silver medal won by weightlifter Hoang Anh Tuan in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. 
At the 2012 Olympics in London, Vietnam failed to win any medal.
With some athletes displaying their world-class performances in recent years, the Vietnamese sports is expected to win a medal at the upcoming 2016 Summer Olympics.

 
One of Vietnam’s leading medal hopefuls is swimmer Nguyen Thi Anh Vien  at the 2016 Olympics
One of Vietnam’s leading medal hopefuls is swimmer Nguyen Thi Anh Vien at the 2016 Olympics
Particularly, one of Vietnam’s leading medal hopefuls is swimmer Nguyen Thi Anh Vien, who has proved her capability in international competitions, winning dozens of gold medals. 
This year, swimmer Nguyen Thi Anh Vien will compete in the women’s 400m freestyle, 200m individual medley and 400m individual medley events. Her best 200m individual medley result is 2:12.66, achieved at the 2014 Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China, which is equal to the performance of some athletes who competed in the final of the event at the 2012 Olympics in London.
Veteran shooter Hoang Xuan Vinh, who came close to victory in London, sees a big chance to win a medal for Vietnam at the Games, while Van Ngoc Tu is able to compete for a place on the podium in Judo. 
Weightlifting is another sport Vietnam can count on for ending its medal drought at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, with Tran Le Quoc Toan and Thach Kim Tuan proving their competence of lifting themselves to the podium.