80 years of Sports: A strong mark in the international arena

(Dan Tri) - 80 years after its inception, Vietnamese sports have made a great mark on the international arena. These marks demonstrate the country's growth and at the same time demonstrate our integration with the international community.

On January 30, 1946, President Ho Chi Minh issued Decree No. 14 establishing the Ministry of Youth, a Central Sports Department under the Ministry of Youth, which is the predecessor of today's Sports and Physical Training sector.

Then, in 1957, the Central Sports Committee was established, and in 1960 it was changed to the Sports Committee. From 1975 to 1986, mass sports movements developed strongly, especially promoting the campaign "All people exercise following the example of great Uncle Ho".

Then came the period when Vietnamese Sports transformed strongly, leaving a huge mark on the international arena, starting from the SEA Games, to larger sporting events such as the Asiad and the Olympics.

From a new country to integration, Vietnam now has an Olympic gold medal, won by shooter Hoang Xuan Vinh at the 2016 Rio Olympics (Photo: Getty).

Transformation after the first days of integration

The development after the integration period can be divided into two other stages. In the first stage, we participated in the SEA Games, Asiad and Olympics to integrate into the general cycle of regional, continental and world sports.

During this period, Vietnamese sports teams and delegations did not place much importance on achievements in competitions. For example, at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, Vietnam Sports (TTVN) only participated in 4 events including athletics, shooting, swimming and wrestling.

Of course, at that time, Vietnam did not have any remarkable achievements. First, we did not set specific achievement targets for athletes. Next, at that time, Vietnam did not have a source of high-quality athletes, and did not have athletes capable of competing with international athletes.

Not only in the Olympics, but also in the SEA Games arena, Vietnam Sports Administration did not place much importance on achievements in the Southeast Asian Games in the 1980s and early 1990s. In the first SEA Games of Vietnam Sports Administration, since our return to Southeast Asian sports in 1989, we did not have any special achievements.

TTVN is increasingly becoming a formidable force in regional tournaments (Photo: Quy Luong).

Then things gradually changed, by the 19th SEA Games in 1997, the Vietnamese sports delegation ranked 4th overall, the highest position up to that point. That was also the period when Vietnam Sports Administration began to set a strategy to reach the top of Southeast Asia, with the goal of entering the top 3 of the regional sports events.

Along with the above mentioned goal of being in the top 3 SEA Games is to promote the training of athletes according to the national target program. In 2003, a new milestone, a very big mark appeared for Vietnam Sports, for the first time we organized a SEA Games, that was the 22nd SEA Games. Also for the first time, Vietnam Sports ranked first in the Southeast Asian Games.

Continental and world imprint

Also during the mid to late 1990s and early 2000s, Vietnam gradually climbed the ladder of glory at the Asian Games and Olympics.

In 1994, at the Asiad held in Hiroshima (Japan), Taekwondo martial artist Tran Quang Ha won a gold medal. This was the first gold medal of Vietnam at the Asiad in the renovation period. 4 years later, Ho Nhat Thong successfully defended his gold medal in Taekwondo at the Asiad in Bangkok (Thailand).

In 2000, at the Sydney Olympics (Australia), Taekwondo athlete Tran Hieu Ngan helped Vietnam win a medal for the first time in history at an Olympics, with a silver medal in the women's 57kg category.

Vietnam women's football team holds the super record of 4 consecutive SEA Games championships (Photo: Do ​​Minh Quan).

16 years after winning the first medal, Vietnam took another step forward, winning the first gold medal at the Olympics, which belonged to shooter Hoang Xuan Vinh in the shooting event. At the 2016 Rio Olympics (Brazil), in addition to the gold medal in the men's 10m air pistol event, Hoang Xuan Vinh also won a silver medal in the men's 50m air pistol event.

That is a brilliant achievement of Vietnam Sports, demonstrating the correctness of the path of transformation and integration with the world. Hoang Xuan Vinh also became the most successful athlete of Vietnam Sports at the Olympics, a shining example for generations of Vietnam Sports athletes in the following years to strive, hoping to reach glory like this shooter.

In addition to the most brilliant achievements and biggest milestones mentioned above, TTVN has other marks that make international friends admire and somewhat startled by our dizzying speed of progress.

For example, at the 14th Asian Games in 2002 in Busan (South Korea), Vietnam had 4 Taekwondo athletes reaching the finals of different weight categories. Or female athlete Truong Thanh Hang was once the second fastest runner in Asia in the 800m and 1,500m events for women.

Truong Thanh Hang won silver medals in the two aforementioned events at the 16th Asian Games in 2010 in Guangzhou (China). Also in athletics, Bui Thi Thu Thao won gold medals in the women's long jump at the 18th Asian Games in 2018 in Jakarta (Indonesia).

It is important to note that athletics is known as the “queen” sport. This is the most attractive and fiercest sport at international sports events. Winning a medal in athletics is very difficult because many sports countries invest heavily in developing athletics. However, Vietnam still has medals, including the gold medal in athletics at the Asian Games, proving that we have great potential.

Another sport that is very difficult to achieve success is football, the “king” sport, which is of interest to the whole world and is competed for by the whole world. But step by step, Vietnamese football has risen from being a weak team to the strongest team in the region. Vietnamese women’s football set a super record of winning the SEA Games 4 times in a row (2017, 2019, 2022 and 2023).

Meanwhile, the men's football team has won the SEA Games twice in a row (2019 and 2022), won the AFF Cup three times (2008, 2018 and 2024), and at the same time, the Vietnamese men's football team is simultaneously holding the championship trophies of the two most important tournaments in Southeast Asia, including the AFF Cup and the U23 Southeast Asian tournament.

The Vietnamese women's football team has made it to the 2023 World Cup, while the men's football team has reached the third qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup, which was the final qualifying round in Asia at that time.

Important step to "take off"

After the integration process and the acceleration phase, Vietnam Sports Administration gradually grasped the trend of shifting to key investments, instead of widespread investments. Former Director of the Department of High Performance Sports (under the Department of Sports and Physical Training), former head of the Vietnam Sports Administration Nguyen Hong Minh once shared: "Most sports in the world today, they usually only focus on a few sports.

Following the general trend of the world, Vietnam's sports industry has also made an important shift, from widespread investment to key investment, directly attacking the Asian Games and Olympic arenas (Photo: Quy Luong).

Next, in each sport, sports only focus on investing in 2-3 events, or 2-3 weight classes, with the highest potential to compete for medals, and they do not invest widely.

“For example, North Korea only focuses on about two strong sports. South Korea only focuses on about three sports. Countries like Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines are the same. Even the sports powerhouse Russia only focuses on about six or seven sports, and they do not spread their investment across all sports,” Mr. Nguyen Hong Minh added.

Grasping this trend, TTVN held a workshop to contribute ideas to the development program of key sports. After this workshop, we reached a consensus that key investments should be made for sports (except football which has its own characteristics) in two main groups.

Group one is the Olympic medal-contested sports, including shooting, archery, weightlifting, badminton, taekwondo, boxing, fencing and rowing. Group two is the Asian Games medal-contested sports, including athletics, judo, karate, wushu, gymnastics, wrestling, swimming, sepak takraw and cycling.

Changing investment methods and orientations, Vietnam Sports Administration also changes its goals at regional, continental and world sports events to suit the trend, as well as the expectations of the people and the country's development in many different fields.

The change is that Vietnam will no longer pursue the number one position at the SEA Games at all costs. On the contrary, we will attack directly the highest achievements at the Asian Games and even bigger, the Olympics, to create a stronger resonance, to make a clearer mark on the world!

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/80-nam-nganh-the-thao-dau-an-dam-net-o-dau-truong-quoc-te-20250821234358609.htm