Han Quang Thoai shared that when he was 3 years old, he had polio and his right leg was atrophied. It was not until he was in secondary school that he felt he was different from his friends when they teased him as a “cripple”.
When he finished university and graduated with a degree in history education, another shock came to him: “applying for a job”. He submitted more than 10 applications but was rejected by all companies.
After trying many jobs, Mr. Thoai himself felt unhappy. At that time, he started thinking about a sport to relieve the pressure.
Quang Thoai turned to swimming because he felt his health was very weak and wanted to find sports to improve his health.
Quang Thoai shares about the journey of his first medals, from a guy who was self-conscious about his physical disability, to finally winning prestigious medals.
His first achievement in swimming was winning 4 silver medals at the 2020 National Paralympic Swimming Championship in just two weeks of training. After 4 silver medals, Thoai was even more motivated to try and the result was 2 gold medals and 3 silver medals at the National Competition in Hanoi in 2022.
Besides tournaments with people with disabilities, he also participated in the 2022 Hoa Binh Lake Swimming Tournament with more than 200 athletes, all of whom were normal people, and he finished second overall after a Japanese athlete.
After the tournament, the name Han Quang Thoai became more known and at that time he wanted to conquer a new milestone: "Swimming 35km at night in the ocean, from Vinh Hy beach to Vinh Son beach".
He swam continuously through the night for 35km in 17 hours. He shared that there were moments when he was very tired and wanted to give up, the most tired moment was when there was about 10km left to swim to shore, his body started to get tired and exhausted. At the end of the race, his shirt was no longer intact and the skin was torn, it took two months to heal.
Besides his strong will and courage, Quang Thoai also has a kind heart when he participated in a 100km swim in a 25m pool to raise funds for a child at the Angels' Home - Kim Dieu. He also participated in the 2023 Para Games in Cambodia. With his efforts and hard work, he brought home 4 bronze medals.
Next, the third memory of Mr. Han Quang Thoai is a photo of a classroom. The children that Mr. Thoai is teaching at the Angel shelter are orphans, disadvantaged children who are being taken care of. In addition to teaching swimming at the shelter, he also teaches children in the surrounding area and this summer he has a free swimming class in Long Phuoc ward, district 9, HCMC...
