Athlete Nguyen Thi Oanh (No. 624) always demonstrates her highest competition spirit.

Winning six medals in three competitions

With local funding, in February 2018, Nguyen Thi Oanh competed at the 2018 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships held in Iran. Despite facing top athletes in the continent, Oanh was very confident. She consecutively won two bronze medals in the medium distance races of 1,500m and 3,000m for women, which are her strength. One month later, Oanh earned a gold medal in the women’s 5km run at the Tien Phong newspaper Marathon Tournament. Additionally, Oanh and her teammates of Bac Giang also won a silver medal at the tournament.

Most recently, at the Singapore Open Track & Field Championships 2018 (early April), Oanh easily outran her competitors on the track to win two gold medals in the women’s 1,500m and 3,000m with hurdles. With 4:16:13 seconds in the 1,500m event, she surpassed her own record at the SEA Games 29.

Ngo Hoang Long, Director of the Bac Giang centre for sports training and competition said: "Oanh has maintained her impressive performance throughout competitions since the SEA Games 29 until now. This is a positive signal, helping encourage the spirit of training and competition of local athletes not only in track & field but also in all other high performance sports. "

A momentum for ASIAD 18

Athlete Nguyen Thi Oanh.

The Singapore Open Track & Field Championships 2018 was one of the important events for members of the national athletics team to review and evaluate their ability in preparation for the upcoming 18th Asian Games (ASIAD 18). With what she has shown, Oanh surely will be the optimal choice for the distances where she earned her glory at sport events in Southeast Asia, including the 1,500m and 3,000m with hurdles, and maybe 5,000m for women. For Oanh herself, the six medals in the three tournaments early 2018 are considered as the perfect impetus for the upcoming domestic and international tournaments, especially ASIAD 18.

Talking about her recent successes, Nguyen Thi Oanh said aside from the medals, the most important thing is that she can keep the passion and confidence on the running tracks.

Shortly after returning from Singapore, Oanh joined her teammates at the Hanoi National Sport Training Centre to train for ASIAD 18. As planned, ASIAD 18 will take place in August in Indonesia. As part of efforts towards the goal of winning gold medals at the continental event, the coaching board of the Vietnamese athletics team defines Oanh as one of the key athletes. Oanh also affirmed that from now until the end of the year, she aims to successfully compete in ASIAD 18 and help Bac Giang’s athletics team realise its targets at the National Sports Festival 2018.

As an athlete with strong will and energy like Nguyen Thi Oanh, supporters can believe that Vietnam’s athletics team in general and Bac Giang’s in particular will have a successful year on the international arena.

Quoc Truong