“ I don’t take Ms. Oanh as a monument or Ms. Oanh’s achievements as my goals. I will use my own goals each time to create achievements ” - The person who said these words is athlete Pham Thi Hong Le.
While Nguyen Thi Oanh's name and achievements of 4 Gold Medals were flooding the newspapers and social networks, creating a wave of admiration and dreams from fans, there was a girl running behind Oanh who dared to speak directly like that to the journalist.
Not caring about my surprise, the Binh Dinh athlete continued her story: “ I myself do not set a goal of being a monument for someone to strive for. I only focus on myself because I know that each person's ability and health are different. In competition, it also depends on the situation, tactics and the athlete himself when competing. The whole process of training and competing is for the flag and colors of the Fatherland, for my own honor .”
To bring each medal back to Vietnam, Hong Le had to go through a sea of sweat and a lake of tears.
Although they only won the Silver Medal, Hong Le, Nguyen Thi Oanh and the other Vietnamese golden girls competing at the highest level seem to share the same diamond will.
Le happily said: “ For example, in the 2020 National Championship, my goal was to break the national record in the 10,000m event and I did it. Specifically, the national record of Vietnam that has existed for the past 17 years is 34 minutes 48 seconds, I broke that record to only 34 minutes 30 seconds. However, in this tournament, Ms. Oanh is the record holder with a result of 34 minutes 8 seconds.
In 2021, the National Championship continues with the 10,000m event and I still aim to break Ms. Oanh's record in 2020. In this tournament, Ms. Oanh did not participate in the above event and I broke Ms. Oanh's old record to 34 minutes 01 seconds. And I am the one who holds the National KLQG until now .
Talking about her senior in the same room, same training ground, same distance, Le kept commenting on her opponent with undisguised admiration: “ I’m not saying I won’t be able to beat her, but the ability to beat Oanh will be difficult. She is now at a level where she can only compete with men, she is already at a different level. Practicing together every day is enough to know each other’s level, it will be difficult for me to beat Oanh and the athletes below me will also find it difficult to beat me .”
Accompanying the 32nd Seagames medal podium in Cambodia were the two golden girls of Vietnamese athletics: Nguyen Thi Oanh and Pham Thi Hong Le.
Concluding the professional story and also the honest explanation for "not taking Ms. Oanh as a monument", Le said: " I also know that Ms. Oanh's level is far from mine, so I just try to improve my own goals. If I keep looking up to her to compare, I will be very sad and feel sorry for myself ."
Each medal is a sea of sweat, a lake of tears.
Hong Le is the fifth daughter in a family of six children in Cat Hanh commune (Phu Cat, Binh Dinh). No one in her family is in the sports industry, only the girl born in 1988 decided to follow this path.
At first, the girl wanted to "beat the whip and practice boxing" like the strong women of the martial arts land, but her family's economic situation did not allow it, so athletics became her destiny from then on.
Hong Le shared: “ When I was in high school, because of my passion, I asked my parents to let me learn martial arts, but because my family did not have the means, I could only study for 1 month and then had to quit because I did not have money to pay the tuition. At that time, the monthly tuition was 60,000 VND/month, but because my family was poor, I switched to athletics .”
Compared to martial arts, athletics does not cost the family money and Le herself has a talent for this sport. When she was a junior high school student, Le won high prizes at school, district and province. The biggest turning point in Le's athletics career to be called up to the provincial team was when she won the cross-country race for two consecutive years.
Although being selected for the provincial team was a great honor, Hong Le's parents initially did not support their daughter's pursuit of sports. With her passion and achievements, Le convinced her family to pursue her passion. After 4 years of training in the province, Le was called up to the national athletics team, which surprised both Le and her family.
Hong Le practices with teammates in the national team.
But when she joined the national team, the road was paved with roses, but her and her teammates' feet were also covered in blood. Once they reached the national level, it was almost all practice, practice, and practice. Compete, compete, and be eliminated immediately if they could not handle the pressure and had poor results.
Le said: " When we were called to the national team, we only knew one thing in mind: Try to practice persistently and persistently to bring achievements to the country and ourselves ."
However, no athlete is immune to injury. Le has been plagued by multiple injuries and Iliotibial Band Syndrome (ITBS) - a condition caused by overuse of the connective tissue located on the outer or lateral sides of the thigh and knee.
Running is a passion, a profession, but running also brings pain both physically and mentally. Treatment - Recovery - Training - Injury again... That sad cycle is like living with Le.
There were days when Le's sweat and tears were constantly spilling all over the track while she was training. Or at night, she cried because of... pain. It was also because of the injury that Le had to give up her favorite marathon, which helped her win a Bronze Medal at the 30th SAE Games in the Philippines.
A place to compete in the SEA Games is the result of years of sweat, tears and showing outstanding ability through many tournaments. Each athlete on the track is like fish on a sieve, there is no way to cheat. Le and her teammates came to the SEA Games with their own strength.
After 11 years of perseverance in athletics, Hong Le has won 1 gold medal, 4 silver medals and 2 bronze medals at the SEA Games. At the 32nd SEA Games, Le's only achievement was 2 silver medals, but for her, those medals were all the result of "a sea of sweat and a lake of tears".
Only true fans know that no matter what medal or what content it is, the athlete had to work hard, sweat, shed tears and even shed blood to get it.
Asked about the future, Le affirmed: “ I just hope to recover from injury so I can practice and compete to my best. I am a very progressive person. I am never satisfied with my achievements and always want to achieve higher results .”
* Photos in the article provided by the character
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