Despite her best efforts, three-time Asian champion Nguyen Thi That could not surprise her strong opponents in the women's road cycling event yesterday, August 4. The goal of winning a medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics is increasingly moving away from the Vietnamese sports delegation.
Competing with 92 opponents including all the stars in the world of women's road cycling such as Kopecky Lotte (Belgium, world number 1), Vollering Demi (Netherlands, 2nd), Wiebes Lorena (Netherlands, 3rd), Longo Borghini Elisa (Italy, 4th), Labous Juliette (France, 5th), but the number 1 female cyclist of Vietnam still boldly attacked. She caused a surprise when she escaped in the first group, together with 6 other riders, creating a gap of more than 6 minutes compared to the large group behind. If she successfully finished with this group, the chance for Nguyen Thi That to win a medal was very good because she is good at sprinting. However, the strong racing teams behind accelerated strongly, successfully chasing Nguyen Thi That's leading group, so she fell behind, missing the chance to compete for a medal.
Cyclist Nguyen Thi Thap (middle) competes hard in the road cycling event.
AFP
Nguyen Thi That is the 14th out of 16 Vietnamese athletes to complete the 2024 Paris Olympics but has yet to realize the medal target set earlier. Vietnamese sports are still looking forward to the last two opportunities from Nguyen Thi Huong (canoeing) and Trinh Van Vinh (weightlifting). According to the schedule, Trinh Van Vinh will compete on August 7. In the men's 61 kg weight class, this athlete will have to compete with very strong opponents such as Li Fabin (China), who has the best performance of 314 kg in total, or Morris Hampton Miller (USA, 303 kg) and Sergio Massidda (Italy, 302 kg). With the best parameter of 294 kg, Trinh Van Vinh also has to compete with top opponents in Southeast Asia such as Eko Yuli (Indonesia, 300 kg), Ceniza John Febuar (Philippines, 300 kg), Silachai Theerapong (Thailand, 299 kg). Van Vinh once made a breakthrough to defeat strong opponents, won the SEA Games gold medal in 2017 and that is the basis for him to be expected in his first participation in the Olympics. Nguyen Thi Huong is the last Vietnamese athlete to compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics. In her first time stepping into the big arena, she had to face 16 very strong opponents in the 200m single sculls event. Therefore, the goal that this rower born in 2000 set is to surpass his personal achievement. Most likely, like the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, the Vietnamese sports delegation will have to leave the 2024 Paris Olympics without any medals.
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