Excellence in Southeast Asia
The Vietnamese youth swimming team has finished competing in the 2025 Southeast Asian Youth Swimming Championship (closed on June 17 in Singapore) with a total of 22 Gold Medals, 21 Silver Medals, and 13 Gold Medals.
Nguyen Thuy Hien participated in this tournament. She won 7 Gold Medals to contribute to the overall achievement of the Vietnam Youth Swimming Team in the women's 50m frog, women's 50m freestyle, women's 4x200m freestyle, women's butterfly 50m, women's 100m frog, men's - women's 4x200m freestyle, women's 100m freestyle.
This is the first international task that Thuy Hien and a young Vietnamese swimmer have carried out. We have broken 4 age groups records at the tournament, Nguyen Thuy Hien is the owner of the above 4 records. We highly appreciate the athletes' efforts in competition because after accumulating physical strength, Thuy Hien competed and won encouraging results in direct competitions with athletes of the same age in Southeast Asia, in charge of swimming (Vietnam Department of Physical Education and Sports) - Ms. Le Thanh Huyen shared.
Sharing when returning home from Singapore, the female player expressed her reservations: I have had the opportunity to compete and try my best. I still have to increase my speed and hope to improve my performance in the next tasks."
After competing in Singapore, Nguyen Thuy Hien was awarded the title of best female athlete of the 16-18 age group by the Organizing Committee. This is not the first time Nguyen Thuy Hien has been awarded the title of outstanding athlete at a specific professional tournament.
However, the coaching staff of the Vietnam Swimming Team said that Nguyen Thuy Hien is starting to develop to achieve the forecast professional indicators, so each record-breaking result in the Southeast Asian age group is a premise to help this young athlete gain more confidence to practice and compete.
Waiting for a surprise in Thailand
I am still being professionally best prepared. I hope that if I achieve good results, I will be selected by the coaching staff to participate in the 33rd SEA Games. All of us athletes are eager to achieve achievements that bring glory to the Fatherland, Nguyen Thuy Hien shared cautiously.
According to the coaching staff of the Vietnam Swimming Team, after two years, Nguyen Thuy Hien's professional achievements are changing significantly. Two years ago, Thuy Hien participated in the 32nd SEA Games in Cambodia at the age of 14 and won a Bronze Medal (women's 100m freestyle event, 56 seconds 42).
After the above achievement, many articles have praised Thuy Hien. However, swimming (Vietnam Department of Physical Education and Sports) and the Vietnam Association of Water Sports once expressed that Nguyen Thuy Hien, who is at a young age, will develop better if she has the most accumulation and investment. After two years, Nguyen Thuy Hien has participated in more domestic tournaments, youth tournaments at Southeast Asia and Asia levels, so she has accumulated significant experience.
"We are still reviewing the forces preparing for the 33rd SEA Games. Nguyen Thuy Hien is one of the players trained by the Vietnam Swimming Team from the beginning of 2025. Athletes have their professional ability, and if they maintain their high form, they can surprise Thailand at the end of this year in some specific events.
However, swimmers from Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines are actively practicing their skills, so the competition is very fierce, Ms. Le Thanh Huyen added.
On the swimming pool of the 2025 Southeast Asian Youth Championship in Singapore, Nguyen Thuy Hien was closely monitored by expert Gustavo Piza of the Vietnam Swimming Team. The stopwatch is a familiar item used by Mr. Gustavo Piza to record each result of the female student.
Thuy Hien said that experts set very high professional requirements, so athletes must ensure the same results as when practicing. For each athlete, to break a record in the Southeast Asian Youth Swimming Championship, they have to make great efforts.
In this year's tournament, through the competition results, Thuy Hien broke the age group record 4 times. Her achievements have reflected her outstanding abilities. Thuy Hien's forte is the ability to dominate short-distance swimming routes. However, Southeast Asia's top athletes are in the short-distance group. Therefore, to achieve the best results, Thuy Hien must have an effective competition strategy and make no mistakes.
Rarely appear on social networks
Nguyen Thuy Hien is one of the players of the Swimming Team who does not appear much on social networks. She said that she wants to stay focused on her expertise, so she almost never uses social media.
Vice President and General Secretary of the Vietnam Water Sports Association - Mr. Dinh Viet Hung discussed: "Thuy Hien is 16 years old and is very focused on training to compete. We acknowledge the professionalism, the athletes properly implement the requirements of the coaching staff. With such a sense of professionalism, we assess Thuy Hien to have very good development opportunities in the future".
Of course, it is not true to say that Nguyen Thuy Hien does not use social networks. At her developmental age, she has the need to exchange, chat with friends and grasp information. The female player determined that all information was received to grasp without focusing too much on social networks.
The young girl of the Vietnam Swimming Team used the main time of one day to practice and learn culture. When she has free time, Thuy Hien uses social networks to have balance in her daily activities. Many friends have called Thuy Hien a record collector because through each award, she breaks records.
Before coming to Singapore to compete, in April 2025, Thuy Hien will participate in the 2025 National Swimming Championship (25m short course) in Hue city. At the above tournament in Hue city, Thuy Hien personally won 5 Gold Medals, 3 Silver Medals personally and broke 5 national records. Talking to her at that time, Thuy Hien shared reservedly that she was afraid to appear in the press because she didn't know what to say.
However, when competing, Thuy Hien always explodes with her full professional ability. There are many comparisons of international competition levels between former player Nguyen Thi Anh Vien and her. The coaching staff of the Vietnam Swimming Team believes that focusing on expertise will help Thuy Hien maintain a stable mentality in each tournament to ensure the best results.
The last time the Vietnamese swimming team won a Gold Medal in women's swimming events at the SEA Games was at the 30th SEA Games in 2019 in the Philippines (achievement of Nguyen Thi Anh Vien).
At the 31st and 32nd SEA Games, we only won Gold Medals in the male athlete event in swimming. Nguyen Thuy Hien is predicted to be able to make a difference at the 33rd SEA Games.
