After announcing her retirement at the age of 20 after being removed from the national gymnastics training team in 2024, athlete Pham Nhu Phuong suddenly revealed to Dan Tri reporter the things that have been bothering her for years and that she did not dare tell anyone for fear of affecting her career.
"Over the years, for every medal I won, the unwritten rule is that I have to give back 10% of the bonus to my coach. Whether it's a gold medal, silver medal, or bronze medal, I have to give it all up.
The more medal bonuses you have, the more you have to pay. The time I won 2 silver medals and 2 bronze medals at SEA Games 31 was the time I had to pay the most," athlete Pham Nhu Phuong said indignantly.
Athlete Pham Nhu Phuong's heartbreaking revelation about having her medal bonus "cut" (Video: Minh Quang).
Athlete Pham Nhu Phuong, who won 2 silver and 2 bronze medals at the 31st SEA Games (Photo: Manh Quan).
According to the athlete born in 2023, for each medal awarded, in addition to 10% income tax, she must pay an additional 10% to her coach, Ms. NTD - one of two coaches directly in charge of her at the Gymnastics Department of the Hanoi Sports Training and Competition Center.
Coach NTD is also the one who "forgot" to report the story of Nhu Phuong applying to go to the US to the Department of Physical Education and caused his student to be disciplined, which we mentioned in the previous issue.
To prove it, Pham Nhu Phuong shared a text message that her mother exchanged with coach NTD asking why her daughter had to pay 10% of the medal bonus at the 31st SEA Games twice, and then was forced to transfer the money as requested.
These messages show that the story of "collecting 10% of medal bonuses" has been going on for a long time, when Pham Nhu Phuong was only 11 or 12 years old. At the 2023 National Sports Festival held in October last year, she still had to "pay back the money" to her own teacher.
Ms. Ta Bach Nhu, mother of athlete Pham Nhu Phuong, texted coach NTD to ask why her daughter had to pay 10% of the second medal bonus to the teacher, even though she had previously paid 9.9 million VND the first time and was explained by NTD that it was because there were 2 different bonus periods (Photo: NVCC).
Next, coach NTD texted his account number at BIDV bank, Thang Long branch, so that Ms. Ta Bach Nhu (athlete Pham Nhu Phuong's mother) could transfer 10% - equivalent to 9 million VND of the second bonus. Ms. Bach Nhu also took a screenshot of the successful money transfer to the teacher.
Coach NTD texted the account number to athlete Pham Nhu Phuong's mother to receive 10% of the medal bonus that his student received at the 31st SEA Games (Photo: NVCC).
According to Pham Nhu Phuong, the fact that she was charged 10% for each medal did not just happen recently, but has been happening for a long time, from the time she started her career and won her first medal until now.
In the 2020 message, Ms. Ta Bach Nhu also detailed that she transferred 10% of the medal bonus won at the 2019 National Gymnastics Congress, with the amount of 3,150,000 VND, along with the amount of a "strange fund" to the coach for 6 months (300,000 VND per month, equivalent to 1.8 million VND).
Athlete Pham Nhu Phuong's mother had to pay 10% of the medal bonus and in addition, she had to pay 300,000 VND in fund money to NTD coach every month without knowing what this fund was used for (Photo: NVCC).
It is called a "strange fund" because athlete Pham Nhu Phuong herself said she never knew what her teacher used this fund for, or for whom, and there was no written notice about the reason for collecting the monthly fund.
"Every month we have to pay her 300,000 VND, we have to transfer money and there is no receipt. We also don't know what the fund is used for, how it is spent, we only know that we have to pay her that amount of money", athlete Pham Nhu Phuong said.
Pham Nhu Phuong with the gold medals won at the 2023 National Gymnastics Championship (Photo: Manh Quan).
Notably, according to Pham Nhu Phuong, in addition to having to give 10% of the medal bonus back to the coach, this athlete also has to pay a bonus of up to 50%.
"Hi, let me ask you something. Yesterday Chip transferred the medal money and the bonus to me. I found that the bonus was a few million short. I asked Chip and he said that every time the bonus was divided by 70% for me and 30% for you.
But this time I heard you say 50% for me and 50% for you. I want to ask if what you said is true?", Ms. Ta Bach Nhu texted coach NTD on March 20, 2023 after Pham Nhu Phuong won 4 gold medals at the 2023 National Gymnastics Championship.
"Yes. That's right. In fact, our coaching staff is 50/50 with the athletes, but we will also take out a portion to thank the departments," coach NTD replied to Ms. Bach Nhu.
Ms. Ta Bach Nhu questioned why the bonus money had to be divided with coach Nguyen Thuy Duong at a ratio of 70-30, but from 2023 the ratio increased to 50-50 (Photo: NVCC).
To confirm that her accusations were completely true, athlete Pham Nhu Phuong went directly to the bank to show several times she had to transfer 10% to coach N.TD.
Athlete Pham Nhu Phuong must transfer 10% of the first medal bonus (equivalent to 9,900,000 VND) to coach Nguyen Thuy Duong after the 31st SEA Games (Photo: NVCC).
At the apartment where athlete Pham Nhu Phuong is staying in Long Bien district, Dan Tri reporter witnessed the display cabinet of the medal collection of nearly 14 years of competition of the female athlete born in 2003, with at least 50, 60 medals of all kinds from domestic and international tournaments.
Despite working tirelessly on the competition floor to achieve high results, athlete Pham Nhu Phuong also had to "pay taxes" to her teacher after each medal she won (Photo: Minh Quang).
Is there any "unusual and systematic" cutting of athletes' bonuses? Does this story only happen to athlete Pham Nhu Phuong or are there other athletes who have suffered the same fate?
On the morning of January 15, Dan Tri reporter contacted coach NTD to discuss athlete Pham Nhu Phuong's accusations about collecting 10% medal bonus or paying into the above mentioned "strange fund".
However, Ms. NTD said she was not authorized to speak about the incident and asked Dan Tri reporters to contact the Department of Physical Education and Sports of the Hanoi Sports Training and Competition Center.
Immediately afterwards, Dan Tri reporter contacted Ms. Do Thuy Giang, Deputy Head of the Physical Education Department of Hanoi Sports Training and Competition Center to clarify the matter. Ms. Giang said that she was very busy with work at the moment so she had not arranged to meet and discuss.
Ms. Giang also affirmed that when she has free time, she will proactively contact Dan Tri reporters to discuss the content that Dan Tri has reported.
Dan Tri will continue to inform readers about this incident.
According to Decree 152/2018/ND-CP, coaches who directly train athletes to achieve results at the congresses will receive corresponding bonuses according to the following regulations:
Coaches who directly train athletes to achieve success in international sports competitions with individual competition content will receive a general bonus equal to the bonus for athletes.
Coaches who directly train teams to compete and achieve results in international sports competitions with collective sports or events will receive a general bonus equal to the bonus for winning athletes multiplied by the number of coaches , according to the following regulations:
- If there are less than 4 athletes participating in the competition, the total bonus will be calculated for 1 coach.
- From 4 to 8 athletes participating in the competition, the total bonus is calculated for 2 coaches.
- From 9 to 12 athletes participating in the competition, the total bonus is calculated for 3 coaches.
- From 13 to 15 athletes participating in the competition, the total bonus is calculated for 4 coaches.
- For over 15 athletes participating in the competition, the total bonus is calculated for 5 coaches.
At the same time, the bonus distribution ratio for coaches is implemented according to the principle: Coaches who directly train the team receive 60%, coaches who directly train athletes at the grassroots level before joining the team receive 40%.
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