SEA Games 32 is entering its peak days of "gold-picking" and the Vietnamese sports delegation continues to steadily move towards the goal of 90-120 gold medals.

During the many changes in the Games, when Cambodia hosted for the first time, the Vietnamese delegation focused on popular international sports, especially Olympic events.

Nguyen Thi Oanh is the golden girl of Vietnamese sports.

The achievements of Southeast Asian sports delegations are not simply based on rankings, but also on medals from Olympic sports.

As of noon on May 12, Vietnam was leading the medal tally of the 32nd Southeast Asian Games.

Vietnam has 58 gold medals, 2 more than host Cambodia, who is right behind.

This record has a large contribution from Olympic events, especially swimming and athletics.

Vietnamese swimming team won 7 gold medals, ranking second in the overall team after Singapore - a regional powerhouse with a total of 22 gold medals.

More outstanding was the achievement of the athletics team, bringing home 10 gold medals, along with 18 gold medals and 7 bronze medals for the Vietnamese sports delegation.

Only Thailand is currently ahead of Vietnam, with 13 gold medals.

This achievement is still far from the 22 gold medals of the 31st SEA Games held at home. However, this is also a success for Vietnam when many key players are absent.

The fact that speed queen Le Tu Chinh cannot compete in individual events is a big loss. The young girl from Ho Chi Minh City has not yet fully recovered from surgery.

Without Chinh, her other teammates brought glory to the Vietnamese sports delegation in athletics, which is always the most watched event in any conference.

Nguyen Thi Huyen won the 5th consecutive SEA Games gold medal

Of the 10 athletics gold medals, 9 events had the presence of female athletes, including the 4 x 400 m mixed relay.

Nguyen Thi Oanh stood out the most, bringing home three gold medals in the 1,500 m, 5,000 m and 3,000 m steeplechase events.

In the 400m hurdles, Nguyen Thi Huyen excellently surpassed Robyn Brown (Philippines) to win the symbolic gold medal.

Since Singapore 2015, Huyen has always won at least 2 gold medals at the SEA Games she has attended. In total, the girl from Nam Dinh has 12 gold medals (including her teammates).

Nguyen Thi Huyen became a record holder in Vietnamese and Southeast Asian athletics. It should also be emphasized that in 2017, she won 2 Asian gold medals in the 400m hurdles and 4 x 400 relay.

In addition, other individual gold medals from the women's athletics team went to Nguyen Thi Thu Ha (800m), Huynh Thi My Tien (100m hurdles), Nguyen Thi Thanh Phuc (20km walk), and Nguyen Thi Linh Na (heptathlon).

Vietnamnet.vn