>>> Swimmer Anh Vien – Steel woman of the water
The annual poll for outstanding athletes and trainers was conducted simultaneously in Hanoi, Da Nang city and Ho Chi Minh City on January 12 with the participation of 160 prestigious sports correspondents across the country.
It came as no surprise that Anh Vien landed in first place with an amazing 1,031 points, far trespassing the next two players, Nguyen Thi Huyen (athletics) with 619 points and Ly Hoang Nam (tennis) with 595 points.
The remainder of top ten outstanding athletes included Phan Thi Ha Thanh (gymnastics, 501 points), Thach Kim Tuan (weightlifting, 482 points), Vuong Thi Huyen (weightlifting, 448 points), Hoang Xuan Vinh (shooting, 261 points), Dinh Phuong Thanh (gymnastics, 250 points), Le Quang Liem (chess, 184 points) and Vu Thanh An (fencing, 154 points).
Vien was definitely convincing in her victory as she was the most mentioned sportsperson of Vietnam in both domestic and international media last year.
The swimming star was named the most outstanding foreign athlete at the 28th Southeast Asian Games in Singapore with her sparkling collection of eight gold medals and eight new records. The latter half of the year saw Vien impress the world’s big arenas as she won two silver and one bronze at the FINA Swimming World Cup; a medal of each colour at the 6th CISM Military World Games; and seven gold, five silver and one bronze at the Southeast Asian Age-Group Championships. Vien is the only Vietnamese athlete so far to achieve three Olympic standards, qualifying in the 400m freestyle, 400m medley and 200m medley disciplines. For these stunning achievements, Vien was honoured as one of Asia’s five best female swimmers by famous US magazine Swimswam, standing on par with top athletes of the continent.
Vien’s happiness was multiplied as her direct trainer Dang Anh Tuan was voted as the best trainer in 2015 with 475 points, leaving behind athletics trainer Vu Ngoc Loi with 302 points and weightlifting trainer Huynh Huu Chi with 162 points.
Powerlifter Le Van Cong finished first in the “best Vietnamese athlete with disability” category wining 418 points, followed by swimmers Trinh Thi Bich Nhu and Vo Thanh Tung with 307 and 256 points respectively.
Nguyen Hong Phuc was named the most outstanding trainer for athletes with disabilities with 261 points, while Dong Quoc Cuong (swimming) and Tran Thanh Hoang (athletics) ranked second and third with respective scores of 217 and 140.
