Vietnamese sports have gone through the Olympics for the second consecutive year without a medal. That is a deep sadness, not in the context of some other countries in the Southeast Asian region having Olympic medals in 2024.
Regret for Vietnamese sports not achieving the results expected by experts and fans.
During the late 1990s and early 2000s, the "leapfrog" strategy was considered reasonable for Vietnamese sports to quickly move to the top of Southeast Asia. However, when the goal is to rise to the level of Asia and the world, haste is not allowed.
In development, progressing step by step is certainly the foundation for rapid development later. But with Vietnamese sports, the focus, direction, resources, methods... all seem to only think about the "destination".
Everyone wants a beautiful finish, but the process is overlooked. An example is the performance of athlete Trinh Van Vinh at the 2024 Olympics. Compare that to the record-breaking process of the Swedish pole vaulter.
It may sound irrelevant - and it is, but the main story is about process. It's solid and strategic.
In 2014, the new world record for the men's pole vault was set by Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie at 6m16. That record stood until 2020, when Duplantis, then 20, joined the ranks.
The Swedish-American athlete set a new record - 6m17, on February 8, 2020. Since then, within 4 years, he has broken the record (his own) 8 more times, with the remarkable point being that each time was only... 1cm.
In Duplantis's jumps, people see that he can immediately break the index very deeply. Even at the 2024 Olympics, where the new record is set at 6m25, people calculate that he can even increase the record by about 6cm more.
But why don't you do it right away? In the story about Duplantis, it is said that he only increased his record one centimeter at a time so that he could... receive bonuses many times.
That may be true, but in terms of expertise, it shows caution in every step and not putting too much pressure on yourself. Regardless of your ability.
Back to Vietnam sports and Trinh Van Vinh's performance in the men's 61kg category, the weightlifter from Bac Ninh failed in a similar way to Thach Kim Tuan at the 2020 Olympics, also in this weight category.
3 years ago, Kim Tuan had no ranking points because he failed all 3 times in the clean and jerk (150kg and 153kg). Before that, he only succeeded once in the snatch (126kg).
And at Paris 2024, Van Vinh failed in all 3 snatches so he did not have a chance to enter the push and pull competition.
The 28-year-old and his coaching staff registered a weight of 128kg - just behind China's Li Fabin. And he failed all three times. Meanwhile, Theerapong Silachai (Thailand) and Hampton Morris (USA) registered initial weights of 127kg and 122kg, respectively, then succeeded at 132kg and 126kg.
As a result, they won silver and bronze medals respectively, losing only to the overwhelming Li Fabin.
Van Vinh was affected by injury, it was his first time participating in the Olympics and he had little experience, that's true, but to get to the point where he didn't get any points and continued to compete in the clean and jerk, we need to reconsider the competition strategy.
Medal expectations - Van Vinh is the second-to-last contestant, and it is a hopeful event - so the pressure is great. That is understandable, but that is when calmness and calculation are needed. Choosing a breakthrough way of playing in not the best conditions, that is a problem.
Lessons need to be learned, not only for Van Vinh but also Vietnam sports .
