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Learning how to swim at a very early
age, Nguyen Kieu Oanh was selected as a member of the Ho Chi Minh
City
swimming team when she was only 10 years old. Three years later, she
became the national swimming champion. At the 2nd National Sports and Gymnastics Festival in
1990, Nguyen Kieu Oanh dominated the pool by winning 14 gold medals. Her
successes led to the Vietnam Sports Committee changing the regulations,
i.e a
swimmer is allowed to compete in
no more than three events at a tournament. Twenty
years have passed and Nguyen Kieu Oanh still talks proudly of being a
member of the team that was trained by dedicated coach Dr. Do Trong Thinh,
former head of the aquatic sports under the National Commission of
Physical Culture and Sports and now her husband who always shares with her
the passion for swimming and similar views on life.
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Swimming coach Nguyen Kieu
Oanh.
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Nguyen Kieu Oanh
during a competition.
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Making careful recommendations to her student
before his competition.
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Instructing young athletes at Yet Kieu Club in
District 1,Ho Chi Minh
City.
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Exchanging experiences with her teacher-husband,
Dr. Do Trong Thinh.
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Happy with her
family.
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When her athletic career
ended, Oanh, with the support of her husband, continued studying and
received diplomas in sports and foreign language. Later she became a
swimming coach who led athletes of the “golden generation” to attend a
long-term training course in Australia (2004-2006). During
that time she worked hard and attended a refresher training course in
Victoria
to improve her qualifications. Recently she also received a MA degree in
education with the theme “Researching and applying the swimming teaching
programme to primary school pupils in schools in District 1, Ho
Chi Minh City”.
When
speaking about her achievements, she always mentions her beloved husband
who has supported and shared with her all happiness and sorrows in life
and particularly the passion for swimming.
In September 2009, Oanh was
very happy when 15-year-old Nguyen Thi Kim Tuyen, a young swimming athlete
who is trained under the investment strategy of Ho
Chi Minh City,
broke the record of 29’’20 in the 50m butterfly event set by Oanh in April
1993.
Coach Nguyen Kieu Oanh
said: “Swimming in
Ho Chi
Minh City
has developed better than other places in the
country. However, the achievements obtained over the years have not
matched our potential. As a coach of Ho Chi Minh City’s young swimmer
team, I always hope that in the near future Ho Chi Minh City athletes will
bring Vietnam medals at SEA Games that we, the previous generation, did
not achieve”.
Story: Nguyen Vu
Thanh Dat
Photos: Thanh
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