According to experts, although winning Olympic gold will be very difficult for Vien, winning seven gold medals at the regional event is within her reach.

Vietnam’s top swimmer Nguyen Thi Anh Vien will be the country's main medal hope at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games 31 to be held in Vietnam next year.

According to Tran Duc Phan, deputy director of the National Sports Administration, the administration is planning to hire a foreign expert to coach Vien, but these efforts have been hamstrung by the Covid-19 pandemic.

After many years of training in the US, this year, Vien has been working at the National Sports Training Centre in HCM City.

Instead of focusing on many disciplines, Vien is focusing on key distances, especially in the women’s 400m medley.

At the start of this year, Vien was quite sad when she had to split up with a longtime teacher.

At one point, she shared in the press that she wanted to continue to be coached by Dang Anh Tuan. However, now, according to the leaders of the National Sports Training Centre, Vien has gotten used to her new training regime.

The 1996-born swimmer had been training under coach Tuan since 2011. She performed well under his tutelage, until recent years when she began to struggle, particularly at the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia, where she failed to win a medal.

At the 30th SEA Games last year in the Philippines, Vien won six gold medals, two short of her goal.

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Swimmers named best athletes of 2019

Swimmer Nguyen Thi Anh Vien won Best Female Athlete of the Year while swimmer Nguyen Huy Hoang was named Best Male Athlete of the Year at the fifth Victory Cup in Hanoi on January 15.

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SEA Games 30: Swimmer Vien bags two more gold medals

Vietnamese swimmer Nguyen Thi Anh Vien on December 6 pocketed two more gold medals at the ongoing 30th Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 30) in the Philippines.

SEA Games 30: Swimmer Hoang sets new record in 400-m freestyle

Vietnamese swimmer Nguyen Huy Hoang snatched the gold medal in the men’s 400-m freestyle event at the ongoing 30th SEA Games in the Philippines on December 4, clocking 49.08 seconds and setting a new record for the Games.

Source: VNS