As of the end of 2023, experts have stated that Vietnam’s goal of securing 15 spots at the Paris Olympics remains distant.
Vietnam is expected to qualify directly in its several sports of its strengths such as boxing, taekwondo, judo, fencing, badminton, weightlifting, shooting, gymnastics, wrestling, rowing, athletics, and archery. However, according to experts, Vietnam must make great efforts right from the qualifying rounds in early 2024. That means the remaining time is rather limited.
Qualification for the Olympics is becoming more and more difficult as the International Olympic Committee and many sports federation have changed the awarding methods or introduced more stringent competition requirements.
Vietnam ended 2023 with only three athletes qualifying for the Olympics: Nguyen Huy Hoang in swimming, Nguyen Thi That in cycling, and Trinh Thu Vinh in shooting. In early 2024, shooter Le Thi Mong Tuyen secured one more place for Vietnam at the Paris Games. Other national athletes will have to try their best, with a little luck, to have a chance to participate in the Olympics.
Under the draft of the national sports development strategy until 2030, with a vision for 2045, Vietnam aims to have 18-25 athletes qualify for the 2024 Games and win at least one medal. For now such a goal is unrealistic, given the country’s disappointing performance in the sports it expected to achieve good results in at the 2022 Asian Games in China last year.
At the Hangzhou Games, Vietnam won a total of 27 medals in 12 sports, including three gold, five silver, and 19 bronze — fulfilling the target set prior to the start of the Games. According to many experts, Vietnam still maintains its position in Southeast Asia, but has lost itself in higher sports arenas.
In short, the orientation of enhancing performance at bigger competitions is entirely right, but on the path of implementation Vietnam is mired in an old problem: overdiversified investment and lack of focus. Resources aside, the task of determining the best form for key athletes right at the SEA Games or Asian Games requires extremely accurate calculations, and may even require sacrificing one of the two choices.
Dang Ha Viet, Director of the Department of Sports under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said “We need a comprehensive, scientific and rigorous process from selection to training to recovery, and a team of scientists with advanced equipment to support the evaluation of athletes and analysis of rivals. For key sports, it is necessary to have a system of competition from the primary school level in order to approach top-tier playing fields.”
The goal of enhancing performance at the Asian Games and Olympic Games is unchanged. What needs changing at once is bold action and a new mindset.
