Gymnast Le Thanh Tung and the goal of conquering the Olympic arena

Le Thanh Tung is one of the best male gymnasts in Vietnam at present. Among the prominent achievements he has attained over recent years, perhaps his 2020 Olympic berth left the 25-year-old athlete with the most emotions, as it marked a glorious milestone, with his dream of making it through to the world’s largest sporting event having now come true following years of consistent effort and hard work.

Sunday, February 14, 2021 02:07

Le Thanh Tung is one of the best male gymnasts in Vietnam at present.

A dream comes true

Recalling the 49th FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany two years ago, a qualifying tournament for the Tokyo Games, Tung put optimal focus and determination into his favourite vault event and reached the finals after ranking fifth in the qualification round with a score of 16.433. According to the provisions of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), in order to qualify for the 2020 Olympics, contestants must settle for a top three finish in each category. However, five of the eight finalists in the men’s vault had already won tickets to the Games, which meant Tung automatically booked an official Olympic berth before the finals.

“This was a surprising result. With all the three medalists in this category having already qualified for Tokyo 2020, I was promoted to an official Olympic place. As the first Vietnamese gymnast to qualify for the 2020 Games and the second Vietnamese athlete ever to do so, after swimmer Nguyen Huy Hoang, I feel extremely happy and thoroughly delighted,” Tung said.

According to the Ho Chi Minh City-born athlete, with his dream of making it through to the Olympic Games now realised, he will now strive to make the best possible preparations towards achieving top results at the Games. “Representing the fatherland in the Olympic arena is a big source of pride to me, and I will try my best to bring glory home.”

Keeping this in mind, since securing his Olympic berth, Tung has never allowed himself to skip a single day of training. Due to the impacts of COVID-19, the International Olympic Committee decided to reschedule the Tokyo 2020 Games to this July, giving Tung even more training time to work on the level of difficulty in his vault moves.

National team coach Truong Minh Sang said that it would be difficult for Tung to make the top eight performers in the vault event if the 2020 Olympics had went ahead in July 2020 as initially planned, simply because the difficulty level at the Olympic arena has increased significantly.

“The rescheduling of the Tokyo Games until July 2021 has added sufficient time for Tung to confidently improve his capabilities,” Sang said, expressing his sense of optimism.

Motivation from foreign expert

To prepare for the 2020 Olympics as well as the 31^st Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 31), slated to be held in Vietnam later this year, Korean expert Cho Dong-sung was invited to train the Vietnamese national gymnastics team in February 2020. Cho is well-known in the Republic of Korea for helping create the miracle of Korean athlete Yan Hak-seon taking the men’s vault gold medal at the 2012 London Olympic Games. The presence of the Korean expert is expected to be a big boost in terms of professionalism for Vietnamese gymnastics and for Le Thanh Tung, who will have his vault shortcomings addressed to help him look towards brilliant results at the upcoming Games.

Together with the Olympics, the SEA Games 31 is also an important focus of Vietnamese gymanasts as a whole and Tung in particular in 2021. This will be a chance for Tung to redeem himself following his poor display at the previous Games in the Philippines – winning just three bronze medals in the parallel bars, vault and all-around categories. However, it will be not simple for the Vietnamese star to compete for the top honour this year, as he will face a strong opponent, Carlos Yulo, who is known as a “prodigy” of Philippine gymnastics, securing a world vault gold medal at the age of 19 (2019). Later that same year, he went on to pocket two gold medals with amazing vault and floor exercise displays at the 30^th SEA Games. Thus, despite their home-field advantage this year, Le Thanh Tung and teammates will face remarkable pressure from the Filipino star in the men’s vault, floor and all-around disciplines.

“The SEA Games 31 will be hosted in Vietnam, but the pressure on us is significant, as many strong athletes from across the region will battle it out for the top honours, especially Carlos Yulo of the Philippines. However, home advantage is also a motivation for us to exert even greater efforts,” Tung said.