Sports kept me out of trouble: Olympic champion

Vietnamese weightlifter Thach Kim Tuan

Photo: Tuoi Tre

2010 Youth Olympic Games weightlifting champion Thach Kim Tuan, 16, talked to Tuoi Tre last week about his humble beginnings and how the athletic career enabled him to help his family and stay off the streets.

Did you expect you were going to get a gold medal ahead of the games?

I thought I could clinch a bronze as, you know, Olympic Games always attract many strong opponents.

So, I was very surprised and extremely happy to win the gold [after conquering the men’s 56kg clean and jerk event with 256kg at the August 13-26 Youth Olympic Games].

Can you tell us about your life?

I dropped out of school when I was in the sixth grade and started training in weightlifting five years ago.

I was recruited in the national team and began earning a monthly salary of VND750,000 (US$39.5). I gave it all to my eldest sister to care for our family of four.

[Tuan was one of 4 brothers and sisters born in the central province of Binh Thuan into a family of very humble means. He lost his parents when he was 3 and the four moved to Ho Chi Minh City to work as street vendors.]

I’ve given weightlifting my best and I don’t regret leaving school early as I was able to help my brothers and sister.

In addition to the gold medal in Singapore, a gold and two silvers at the Junior Asia Championships in the United Arab Emirates and three silver medals at the Junior World Championships in Thailand last year, these competitions earned me a combined VND300 million ($15,800) in cash prizes.

I give my sister my entire current salary of VND11.25 million ($592) a month to save to buy a house in the city.

[The champion and three of his brothers and sisters are now living in a rented house].

What are your current goals?

I want to return to school and improve my academic skills to better comprehend sports lessons as I am planning to become a weightlifting coach later.

I also want more victories at higher tournaments in the world as the Asian Olympic Games and the World Olympic Games.

What lesson has life taught you?

I think I am lucky that sports kept me out of trouble. Many children with similar family circumstances have become street kids.

I have never gotten involved in any street-fight.

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Vietnam loses to Britain in Youth Olympics Taekwondo final

HCMC – The Vietnamese team won a silver medal at the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games on Tuesday as Nguyen Thanh Thao was defeated by UK rival, Jade Jones in the finals of the taekwondo event.

Jones Jade brought home Britain’s first youth Olympic’s gold medal when she beat the Vietnamese athlete 9-6 in the women’s 55kg weight category.

Thao, who earned her ticket after winning a bronze medal at the Games’ qualifying round held in Mexico in March, was successful against Abdul Rahman, an outstanding Singaporean athlete, 9-8 to reach the final.

Gold medalist Jones had also defeated defending champion Monica Chavez from Mexico and the runner-up Jennifer Agren from Sweden.

Earlier, weightlifter Thach Kim Tuan clinched the first gold medal for Vietnam in the men’s 56kg weight category on the first day of competition on Sunday. Nguyen Quoc Cuong also took home the bronze medal in the men’s 55kg taekwondo category on Monday.

After four days of competition, China are first in the overall medal tally with 10 gold medals, four silver medals and two bronze medals, followed by Russia with nine golds, nine silvers and three bronzes. Third-placed South Korea grasped five golds, one silver and one bronze. Vietnam is 21st with one gold, one silver and one bronze, behind archrivals Thailand, who secured one gold and three silvers.

The Vietnamese sports delegation to the Games has 13 athletes in the seven events of taekwondo, weightlifting, badminton, wrestling, shooting, swimming and track-and-field.

Vietnam’s earlier achievements at the Olympics was a silver medal from the women’s taekwondo through Tran Hieu Ngan at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games while Hoang Anh Tuan won silver in the men’s weightlifting competition at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The Games, which are taking place form August 14 to 26 in Singapore, feature some 3,500 athletes, aged from 14-18, and officials from the 204 National Olympic Committees, competing in 26 sports for 184 sets of medals.

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Lifter wins nation’s first gold at Youth Olympics

Weightlifter Thach Kim Tuan won the gold medal in the boys’ 56kg category as the first Youth Olympic Games in Singapore opened on Sunday.

The 16-year-old lifted a total of 256kg, handily beating Chinese silver medalist Xie Jiawu and Armenian bronze medalist Smbat Margaryan by 2kg with 13kg respectively.

Tuan came to Singapore with a lot of hopes pinned on him after he won gold at the Asian Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championship in Dubai in December 2009.

At the Youth Olympic Games, Tuan faced stiff competition from his Chinese and Armenian rivals with the latter already a silver medal winner at the European Youth championship.

In the snatch category, Tuan lifted 116kg while Jiawu lifted 117kg and Margaryan lifted 108kg.

In the clean and jerk category, the Armenian lifted 135kg in his first attempt while Tuan and the Chinese contestant lifted 134kg and 132kg respectively.

Then, Jiawu lifted 137kg while Tuan and Margaryan failed with 139kg and 149kg respectively.

In the deciding round, Tuan succeeded in lifting 140kg, while Jiawu and Margaryan failed at 140kg and 149kg respectively.

On the opening day of the August 14-26 event, Vietnam’s Nguyen Thi Hong finished fourth in the 48kg category for women with a total weight of 151kg.

Hong’s result was three kilos less than Venezuelan bronze winner Rodriguez, 12kg less than Thai silver winner and 39kg shy of the Chinese gold winner.

Vietnam’s further medal hopes are pinned on taekwondo artist Nguyen Thanh Thao.

Vietnam’s previous best results at the Olympic Games have been a silver medal won by taekwondo martial artist Tran Hieu Ngan at Sydney in 2000; and a weightlifting silver won by Hoang Anh Tuan at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

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