The responsibility of the flag bearer of Vietnamese sports

Vietnam Sports has selected the athlete who will represent the Vietnamese Sports Delegation as the flag bearer at the opening ceremony of the 19th Asian Games (ASIAD 19). If nothing changes, that face will be the male athlete of the National Swimming Team - Nguyen Huy Hoang. Being selected once again, the athlete from Quang Binh has his own pride and honor...

Huy Hoang holds the flag for the Vietnamese Sports Delegation at the 32nd SEA Games. Photo: Huu Pham

Two years four important flags

Vietnamese sports in the past and present have had many athletes who have been honored to be chosen as the representative face of the Vietnamese Sports Delegation to hold the National Flag at the opening ceremony of various large and small sports events from Southeast Asia (SEA Games), Asia (ASIAD) to the Olympics. However, Nguyen Huy Hoang can be considered one of the few athletes who has been honored to hold the flag at the three important Games in his career.

In 2021, when the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (Japan) were held, Nguyen Huy Hoang was trusted by the sports industry leaders to be the flag bearer for the Vietnamese Sports Delegation at the opening ceremony of the Olympics (also holding the flag at that time was former athlete Quach Thi Lan). At the 31st SEA Games 2021 held in 2022 in Vietnam, at the last minute, the Vietnamese Sports Delegation made a change in the flag bearer at the opening ceremony and the honor was given to Nguyen Huy Hoang. This year, at the 32nd SEA Games 2023 held in Cambodia (May 2023), Nguyen Huy Hoang was the athlete who held the flag for the Vietnamese Sports Delegation attending the above competition.

At this point, the selection of the flag bearer for the Vietnamese Sports Delegation to the 19th ASIAD has been completed and Nguyen Huy Hoang has received the highest support. Certainly, at the opening ceremony of this Congress held on the evening of September 23 at the main stadium in Hangzhou City (China), sports fans across the country are eagerly waiting for the image of the Vietnamese National Flag appearing at the Congress and that is a national pride for all.

With such events, of course, not everyone can have the life of an athlete. Nguyen Huy Hoang has that luck. In fact, one of the factors that made sports managers choose Huy Hoang as the typical flag bearer for the Vietnamese Sports Delegation in the opening ceremonies of the recent Congresses is that the athlete has a good physique (1m82 tall), a sympathetic face as well as being an athlete with good professional achievements. Fans across the country know about athlete Nguyen Huy Hoang and are not strangers. A representative of the swimming department (Department of Physical Education and Sports) once said that the Vietnamese Swimming Team with Huy Hoang being given the honor of holding the flag in the past Congresses is an honor and his teammates are very proud that this athlete is like that. However, the pride also comes with responsibility because Huy Hoang always promises the audience cheering him on that he will achieve the best results.

Shining star

Nguyen Huy Hoang is currently a key player receiving long-term training in Hungary. On September 11, Huy Hoang will leave the training site to return to Vietnam to join the Vietnamese Sports Delegation to attend the 19th ASIAD. Of all the events that the Vietnamese Swimming Team registered to compete in at the 19th ASIAD, the events that Huy Hoang participated in, such as the men's 1,500m freestyle and men's 800m freestyle, are expected to achieve the best medal results. At the age of 23, Nguyen Huy Hoang has won Gold Medals for the Vietnamese Swimming Team in the 29th, 30th, 31st, and 32nd SEA Games.

Most notably, when participating in ASIAD 18-2018, the athlete won a Silver Medal in the 1,500m freestyle and a Bronze Medal in the 800m freestyle. That year, the swimming event of the Games only had athletes from 7 teams winning medals, so the Silver Medal and Bronze Medal that Huy Hoang won for Vietnam put us in a different position compared to many opponents.

In the rare times he shared while training in Hungary, Huy Hoang did not talk much about his expertise but only said that he always wanted to maintain the best mental state to swim to the best of his ability according to the training program he had practiced. The story of Nguyen Huy Hoang's life behind the green track was shared by many articles and widely broadcast on television. However, what people rarely heard from Huy Hoang was his future goals. Huy Hoang once said that swimming was his career and his concern about his expertise would motivate him to study best if he stopped competing and became a qualified coach, qualified to train young athletes.

Although he is a strong person in competition, every time he has a chance to rest and visit his hometown Quang Binh, Huy Hoang often participates in charity programs and gives gifts to poor students in the locality. That action partly shows the beautiful soul of the number one swimmer in Vietnam and he is not only good at his job but also beautiful in heart.

Now or never

Vietnamese sports and Vietnamese swimming in particular are focusing on Huy Hoang with the highest goal of winning a medal at ASIAD 19. We already have a Silver Medal and a Bronze Medal, so the pain is to change the color to a Gold Medal.

Historically, Vietnamese swimming has never won a Gold Medal when participating in previous ASIADs. After having Huy Hoang, the manager and professional coaches have outlined a roadmap to help this athlete achieve the highest level of expertise, winning the number one position in his event at ASIAD 19. If only aiming to win a medal, Huy Hoang's ability can do it, but reaching the Gold Medal is a challenge for us.

Huy Hoang is at his peak physical age (23 years old) and if he misses the 19th ASIAD, which is held every four years, at the next ASIAD, this male athlete will be 26 or 27 years old, so it will be very difficult for him to achieve his strongest physical strength. The problem is still the problem. The solution to how Huy Hoang can successfully break through at the 19th ASIAD-2022 has been and is being implemented by experts.

During his training days in Hungary, Huy Hoang has been trained professionally and competed against many European opponents, thus accumulating more experience for himself. When he completes the most prestigious medal at ASIAD 19, Huy Hoang will certainly reach the peak of his professional sports career. The male athlete once shared that each training session has a lesson plan for a swimming volume of no less than 20 kilometers and during the adjustment period, the professional preparation is calculated more specifically for the athlete by the coach and experts.

At the 32nd SEA Games, according to the competition schedule, Huy Hoang had to compete in the finals of the 400m freestyle and 200m butterfly events close together (with only 10 minutes of rest time) but he never complained once. After finishing the two events, Huy Hoang shared, "I knew the competition schedule and I was determined to compete with all my might. After swimming the first event of the 400m freestyle, I thought to myself that I would do my best in the remaining 200m butterfly event because I would never give up when competing. I gained more experience when competing like that." Having gone through 4 SEA Games in his career and won many Gold Medals, now Huy Hoang is waiting for his lifetime achievement at the 19th ASIAD.

Laodong.vn