The brilliant career of Nguyen Thi Huyen

In her career, 'athletics queen' Nguyen Thi Huyen remembers the 28th SEA Games in 2015 the most, the event where she scored a hat-trick of her life, broke 2 SEA Games records and achieved 2 Olympic standards. But Huyen could have shined 2 years before, if only...

"If you keep me until the end… die with me"

Nguyen Thi Huyen shared that when she started her competitive career, she was not chosen for the 400m event but for the 800m: "Almost no athlete dares to "jump" into the 400m distance right from the start, because that is the event that requires the most qualities, including both endurance and speed; the most strenuous training and the most intense competition compared to the remaining events".

Nguyen Thi Huyen and her daughter

Nguyen Thi Huyen stretches herself on the running track - PHOTO: NGOC DUONG

Of the 5 consecutive SEA Games, Huyen was most impressed with the 28th SEA Games (2015). This was the first SEA Games that Huyen participated in the individual event (not counting the relay race at the 26th SEA Games in 2011) and immediately scored a hat-trick of a lifetime, breaking 2 SEA Games records and achieving 2 Olympic standards. The most impressive performance for Huyen was at the 32nd SEA Games in 2023, when after 10 hurdles, she was still behind her opponent. When about 30 meters from the finish line, the golden girl of Vietnamese sports suddenly accelerated, launched a spectacular sprint, gradually narrowed the gap and took the lead in the last 6 meters, to the surprise of the Filipino runner.

Nguyen Thi Huyen (second from right) and her teammates won the relay gold medal.

"I don't dare say anything about the Olympics, but at the SEA Games, if you let me follow you closely, you'll be dead in the end!", the undefeated champion of the SEA Games said jokingly. "The race... is a close race in the end" is real. Huyen analyzed the profession in depth: "In athletics, there are two types of strength: one is strong and rigid, the other is flexible. Strong and rigid strength will help runners achieve great jumping power and form in the early stages, but in the final stages, they can be stiff and unable to lift their thighs. And that is the opportunity for flexible strength to break away and turn the tables." Saying Nguyen Thi Huyen is "weird" on the track is precisely because of that powerful strength.

There are times when my feet feel like they are "evaporating"

Nguyen Thi Huyen shared about her decision to retire at the age of 30, after 15 years of competing: "Actually, my decision was not multiplied by any even number, but simply because my legs at that time were really crying out to their owner, that they were too tired. In the morning, I couldn't even push the blanket aside, and when I held my child, my legs were about to collapse. In the last tournament, I thought I would lose."

The huge medal collection of the golden girl of Vietnam - Photo: NVCC

And the greatest fortune of her life... - Photo: NVCC

"My legs are so tired, let's go find a chair to rest" - like the famous song by musician Trinh Cong Son?", I asked. "Oh, why does that song seem to speak for my heart?", Huyen exclaimed.

After 15 years of exhausting herself on the 400m track, Huyen's career is so splendid with a brilliant record of achievements: 13 SEA Games gold medals, 10 national championship gold medals, 3 Asian championship gold medals.

"Stopping at the 13th SEA Games gold medal for myself, that for me is already great, there is nothing to regret. Perhaps, I could have shone earlier than before at the 2013 SEA Games, if not for the sad incident. Two days before leaving for the competition, I suddenly tore my thigh muscle, all the effort of 2 years of training was gone in an instant", Huyen recalled.

In Nguyen Thi Huyen's illustrious career, there was a slump that made her confused, that was in 2016. "After the successful competition at the 28th SEA Games, my performance suddenly declined, my mentality was unstable, there were disagreements between teachers and students... Luckily, I was finally able to overcome it in time to regain my strength for the 29th SEA Games in 2017", Huyen recalled.

Nguyen Thi Huyen holds the torch before Vietnam prepares to host the 31st SEA Games

"For 15 years, I had to make the most of each day. On scorching hot days, my feet sometimes felt like they were "steaming", even bleeding from the rubbing of my shoes. Despite the extreme cold, I still stuck to the road, sometimes even getting nosebleeds...", Huyen said.

But the hardest part is being away from my child. "My child was only 3 months old when I went back to practice, and I was weaned at 5 months. Every night when I came home, my child clung to me as if he was afraid I would leave again. Every 30 minutes, an hour, he would wake up and reach out to me, crying to be held. But it was that love that motivated me to run, because those sacrifices of me, my child, and my husband must be rewarded," the mother of two confided.

In the movie Tracktown, written, directed and starring female track and field athlete Alexi Pappas (who competed at the 2016 Rio Olympics), the female protagonist struggles to ask herself: "If I don't run, who am I?", "Who am I if I don't compete?".

Our "Queen of Track and Field" has answered that question: She doesn't want to be the fastest runner forever, but also needs to be the one who knows when to stop.

Nguyen Thi Huyen was born in 1993 in Y Yen, Nam Dinh (now Ninh Binh province); her forte is the 400m race with the following events: 400m, 400m hurdles and 4x400m relay. She is the first athlete to achieve 13 gold medals in athletics in the history of the SEA Games and is an undefeated champion of 5 consecutive SEA Games, with a huge medal collection: 13 gold medals at the SEA Games, 10 gold medals at the national championship, 3 gold medals at the Asian championship.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/su-nghiep-long-lay-cua-nguyen-thi-huyen-185250714220920203.htm