Eleven years hinging on the wheel of training and sports competition, Nguyen always craves a family meal. For many times, he has burst into tears because of homesickness; however, he quickly calmed down and told himself that as a soldier, he must overcome all difficulties to fulfill assigned missions.
During the lunar New Year 2024, Nguyen and the Vietnamese swimming team participated in a training course in Hungary and competed in the World Aquatics Championships in Qatar and the Asian Age Group Aquatics Championships in the Philippines.
A 10-year-old boy decides his own future
While competing in the Asian Age Group Aquatics Championships 2024, Nguyen received the news that he was selected as one of the ten outstanding young faces in the military in 2023. Right after returning from the Philippines with 3 gold, 4 silver, and 2 bronze medals, Nguyen continued training activities with athletes of the Vietnamese swimming team. He turned homesickness into motivation to practice hard. Every day, he practices swimming for 4 to 6 hours. At the first sight, he looks a bit shy; however, when getting into the swimming pool, Nguyen is strong and decisive, like a fish in the water.
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Tran Hung Nguyen introduces medals obtained at the Asian Age Group Aquatics Championships 2024. |
In order to become a top swimmer in Vietnam, Nguyen exerted utmost effort and persisted in pursuing his passion. When he was 10 years old, Nguyen was able to swim. Strangely, his body shape was a bit extraordinary as he was small but he had big feet and long arms.
Quach Thi Dung is the mother of former famous swimmer Truong Ngoc Tuan and also a relative of Nguyen. In August 2013, Dung discovered his swimming talent and then called his son - Deputy Director and coach of the National Defense Sports Center 5 of the Naval Service, and introduced Nguyen to him. At that time, Nguyen did not know any swimming techniques, he also could not imagine how difficult his sports career would be. He just thought that he loved swimming and wanted to be a swimmer to ease the financial burden on his family.
Promising talent of Vietnamese swimming
A few days after arriving in Ho Chi Minh City, Nguyen called his mother and burst into tears because of homesickness. A few months later, Nguyen's parents flew to the city to visit their son. Although Nguyen’s mother knew that his career would be difficult, it didn't cross her mind that the intensity of training of her son and his teammates would be so fierce. Looking at young boys swimming from morning to afternoon, soaking in the water for hours, the mother suddenly exclaimed: " Such hard work!”
The unexpected reunion between Nguyen and his parents at the National Defense Sports Center 5 added more power to the 10-year-old boy to train hard to realize his dream. In the first two years, Nguyen did not obtain many achievements. He only ranked the 5th or 6th at swimming competitions. Undamped by failure, Nguyen kept practicing. Practice makes perfect! He was selected to the Vietnamese young swimming team at the age of 13.
After gaining impressive achievements at several Southeast Asian youth swimming tournaments, Nguyen was named in the list of the Vietnamese swimming team participating in the Southeast Asian Games 2019 (SEA Games 30). At that time, he was only 16 years old. Surprisingly, he won two gold and two bronze medals and broke a SEA Games record. Since then, his name has regularly appeared on the golden achievement boards of the national and regional tournaments. Receiving the prize money, Nguyen tried to save it to give his parents.
Since SEA Games 30, Tran Hung Nguyen has been called a “Vietnamese swimming prodigy.” Not resting on his laurels, Nguyen continued to take home four gold medals and break a record at SEA Games 31, which was held in Vietnam.
One year later, at SEA Games 32, Nguyen bagged three gold, one silver, and one bronze medals. Talking with us, Nguyen expressed his deep thanks to his coaches at the National Defense Sports Center 5, adding that the military environment and discipline honed his skills and spirit. Nguyen shared that his idol is swimmer Nguyen Huy Hoang. Nguyen and Hoang all come from Quang Binh province. They have always supported each other in training, practice and competitions.
Mentioning his student - Tran Hung Nguyen, coach Truong Ngoc Tuan said that Nguyen is a strong and steadfast young man. Currently, Nguyen is mainly training with the national team; however, they often exchange information about activities in daily life and expertise.
At the age of 21, Nguyen’s life turns around training activities at the swimming pool and the dormitory for athletes. He hardly has time for entertainment. Apart from time to eat and rest, he spends the rest practicing swimming. There were even times when he practiced too intensively, Nguyen just wanted to faint because of tiredness.
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Tran Hung Nguyen wins the golden medal at SEA Games 32. |
However, on the next day, Nguyen was full of energy again and practiced hard. His current target is to quickly get into trim and recover physical strength after his injury. In the future, Nguyen eyes the ticket to attend the Olympics.
Nguyen looks quiet, but he is active in social activities. Looking at Nguyen swimming, I remembered Nguyen Hoang Vu’s comments: “Nguyen is hard-working and resilient. These are qualities that a swimmer needs to have. He is still young; therefore, if he continues to practice hard, he will obtain better achievements in the time to come.”
In addition to the outstanding achievements gained in national and regional competitions, non-commissioned First Lieutenant Tran Hung Nguyen was honored with a second-class Labor Order (2022) and two third-class Labor Orders (2019 and 2023). He was also named in the list of top 10 outstanding young faces in the whole military in 2023 and typical young athletes at the 2019 and 2022 Victory Cup.
Translated by Quynh Oanh