Swimming tournament organizers accused of 'changing results': Parents send complaint to Hanoi leaders

Regarding the case of the organizers and referees being accused of changing the results of the student swimming competition, parents recently filed a complaint to send to Hanoi leaders.

Parents "call for help" from Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee

On June 24, Mr. PHĐ (parent of P.Đ.N - swimmer) sent a petition to Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee Tran Sy Thanh, to complain about document No. 2155/SGDĐT-CTTTHSSV of Hanoi Department of Education and Training dated June 12.

In the complaint, Mr. D. wrote: "On May 5, I submitted a petition to the Hanoi Department of Education and Training with the following content: My son, P.D.N, participated in the Hanoi student swimming competition for the 2024-2025 school year, age group 14-15, held on April 24, 25, 26, 2025 at the Hoang Mai Four Seasons Swimming Pool and won third place according to the results from the organizing committee (OC). I think the BTC's determination that N. finished third is incorrect. I, the coaches and the audience present at the swimming competition that day recorded many videos and images showing my son finishing second. Accordingly, the head of the Hoang Mai district delegation - Hanoi, filed a complaint with a video recording of the competition. However, the BTC still kept the result.

Mr. PHĐ said that the swimming tournament's organizing committee violated the regulations, including the placement of the camera (circled in red). "The organizing committee's camera was positioned a meter wrongly," said Mr. Đ.

PHOTO: NVCC

On May 22, 2025, I received Official Letter No. 1734/SGDĐT-TTr from the Hanoi Department of Education and Training regarding the notification of the results of resolving my feedback and recommendations. However, I did not agree with the resolution in Official Letter No. 1734/SGDĐT-TTr of the Department and filed a complaint dated May 22, 2025 complaining about the content of that document. However, on June 12, 2025, the Hanoi Department of Education and Training continued to issue Official Letter No. 2155/SGDĐT-CTTTHSSV with an unconvincing response and still failed to resolve my complaints.

Firstly, the deputy head of the Hoang Mai district delegation, the representative of the delegation who signed the minutes, did not agree with the conclusion of the tournament's Organizing Committee, but the Department of Education and Training affirmed that the deputy head of the delegation agreed and agreed with the results of the Organizing Committee. Do I have the right to suspect that there was pressure on the representative of Hoang Mai district to sign the minutes of the meeting on April 25, 2025? Secondly, I have a complaint about the professional qualifications of the referee team in the swimming competition that my child participated in and requested to review the camera recording the results of the Organizing Committee. However, the Department of Education and Training has not yet resolved this issue for me. This incident has caused dissatisfaction and indignation for many spectators and coaches who were present and witnessed the competition venue. I respectfully request that the Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee verify and clarify the above irregularities."

Parents are still upset with the answers of the swimming tournament organizers.

Presenting to Thanh Nien , Mr. PHĐ cited that in Official Dispatch No. 2155 dated June 12, 2025 of the Hanoi Department of Education and Training responding to parents, the department said that it was necessary to comply with the 2015 Swimming Competition Law. However, in the decision to promulgate the 2015 Swimming Law signed on May 26, 2015, it was clearly stated: The Swimming Law consists of 9 chapters and 105 articles issued by the World Swimming Federation (FINA). The Swimming Competition Law is applied uniformly at swimming competitions nationwide and international competitions in Vietnam. According to FINA, complaints are valid and can change the results from the Organizing Committee and the referee if the complainant believes that there is an error in the scoring, timing, or refereeing. And the complaint must be submitted within 30 minutes after the provisional results are announced".

The parents of athlete P.D.N questioned: "The Hoang Mai District delegation and the athlete's family followed the regulations of the Swimming Law, but why didn't the Organizing Committee consider resolving the matter in a professional manner to return a fair result to the athlete? But here, the Organizing Committee replied that it is impossible to change the referee's result, even in the case that the referee made a mistake.

The family really wants the Organizing Committee to answer and clarify the 5 questions from the family, instead of deliberately remaining silent, not cooperating to resolve the issue clearly and transparently, and giving parents answers that are not technically correct. If the Organizing Committee creates a playground but imposes students into an unfair situation, is that right and appropriate for the educational environment? This will cause great psychological damage to the students when participating in the tournament."

According to Mr. D., the Organizing Committee could not convincingly answer the questions raised by the athletes' representatives. Mr. D. cited: "Firstly, the Organizing Committee said that according to the regulations, after announcing the results, within 30 minutes if the contestants and team leaders do not have any complaints, the exam results will remain the same. But that day, the Organizing Committee did not announce any results of any exam content, and it was not until the end of the exam day when the parents of the students requested that they post the results. When the results were available, my family asked Hoang Mai district to make a complaint and the Organizing Committee did not resolve them according to the regulations, but they waited until the afternoon of the next day to respond to the representative of Hoang Mai district.

Second: The Organizing Committee replied that in the history of sports, it is impossible to change the results from the Organizing Committee and the referee. But according to FINA, the results can be changed when there are errors and mistakes in the scoring, timing and refereeing. Here, the Organizing Committee made a mistake in timing and the referee pressed my child's lane.

Third: The Organizing Committee said that it did not consider any evidence but only looked at the Organizing Committee's camera. According to FINA, in swimming competitions, the use of surveillance cameras at the finish line is an important part to ensure accuracy and fairness in determining results. FINA also has regulations and standards related to the placement and use of cameras at the finish line. And here, it can be clearly seen that the Organizing Committee's camera did not do it right, standing a meter away from the finish line.

Fourth: All referees must have at least a city-level referee certificate. In important lanes 3, 4, 5, and 6, where medals are likely to be contested, referees with high expertise and national referee certificates must be arranged. But here, in lane 3, the Organizing Committee arranged an athlete from the Hanoi swimming team. I wonder if this person has enough expertise and a national referee certificate?

Fifth: The Organizing Committee still believes that the representative of Hoang Mai district has accepted and signed the minutes accepting the competition results from the referee and the Organizing Committee. As my family has provided evidence, on April 29, 2025, the district representative still responded to my family that he did not agree. And in the meeting on June 2, 2025 with the representatives of the 2 departments, the district representative still stated that he was not satisfied with the decision from the Organizing Committee and asked the 2 departments to consider returning fair results to the athletes of Hoang Mai district."

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/vu-btc-giai-boi-bi-to-thay-doi-ket-qua-phu-huynh-gui-don-khieu-nai-len-lanh-dao-ha-noi-185250625110428648.htm