Athlete Trinh Van Vinh performed excellently at the 2024 Weightlifting World Cup, thereby winning a spot to attend the 2024 Paris Olympics.
This achievement is considered a miracle for a wrestler who was banned from competing for 4 years when he was at the peak of his career.
Sweet fruit after 4 years of hardship
The 2024 Weightlifting World Cup is the final Paris 2024 Olympic qualifier, taking place in early April in Thailand. The Vietnamese weightlifting team competes with the best force. Lai Gia Thanh (men’s 55kg category) won the Gold Medal in snatch, Bronze medal in shot put and Bronze medal in overall.
Khong My Phuong (women’s 45kg category) brought home the Silver Medal in Pushlifting, the Bronze Medal in the Snatch and the Bronze Medal in Overall. Unfortunately, both of these weight categories are not included in the weightlifting competition at this year’s Summer Olympics.
Before Van Vinh, Vietnamese sports had 5 Olympic spots in France, including Nguyen Thi That in women’s road cycling; Trinh Thu Vinh women’s 10m air pistol event; Le Thi Mong Tuyen in the women’s 10m air rifle category, Nguyen Huy Hoang in the men’s 800m freestyle and Vo Thi Kim Anh in the women’s 54kg boxing category. In addition, Huy Hoang also met the men’s 1,500m freestyle B standard to be on the Olympic reserve list.
Vietnamese sports set a goal of winning 12-15 spots to attend the 2024 Olympics.
According to the regulations of the World Weightlifting Federation, qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics will be awarded to the top 10 lifters in each weight category in the competition program. Achievements for ranking are based on Olympic qualifying results.
In Thailand, the female athlete carrying the Olympic responsibility – Pham Thi Hong Thanh failed. Hong Thanh achieved a total of 231kg (best snatch was 105kg and best clean was 126kg), an achievement not enough to help her reach the top 10.
On the latest rankings of world weightlifting, Vietnamese female faces officially have no chance, Pham Dinh Thi ranked 15th in the 49kg weight class and Quang Thi Tam ranked 18th in the 59kg weight class.
However, the pressure of Vietnamese weightlifting to win tickets to the 2024 Olympics has been relieved with the excellent performance of Trinh Van Vinh, 61kg category. Before the 2024 Weightlifting World Cup, Vinh ranked 10th with a record of 292kg, achieved at the 2023 World Championship. In the Group B final in Thailand, he ranked first with a record of 131kg in snatch, 163kg in clean and jerk and total. Weight is 294kg.
This achievement helps Vietnamese athletes definitely rank in the top 10 in the world and win a spot to attend the 2024 Paris Olympics. Another Vietnamese athlete in this group – Nguyen Tran Anh Tuan, did not compete successfully. Mr. Tuan led the snatch section with 132kg, but unfortunately suffered an injury so he failed in three repetitions.
Trinh Van Vinh was born in 1995, in Bac Ninh, was called up to the national team at the age of 20 and carried the expectation of continuing the success of his seniors in the 61kg class such as Hoang Anh Tuan and Tran Le Quoc Toan.
Vinh had an impressive start and continuously reaped success with achievements that could be considered “shocking”. He won the Gold Medal in Pushlifting and the Silver Medal in Overall at the 2016 Asian Championship. Then, this wrestler won the Gold Medal in the 2017 World Championship in Cleansing, with a record of 136kg.
And also in 2017, Vinh unexpectedly won the SEA Games Gold Medal with a total lift of 307kg, setting a conference record, 1kg more than Eko Yuli Irawan (Indonesia), who at that time was the reigning Olympic runner-up.
At ASIAD 2018, Vinh could not create a surprise against the “monument” Eko Yuli Irawan, but his Silver Medal achievement still created history when helping Vietnamese weightlifters win a medal for the first time in this weight class.
However, right at the peak of his performance and being heavily invested in aiming for a 2020 Olympic medal, the Bac Ninh athlete seemed to fall into the abyss when he tested positive for doping (a banned substance). ).
Random test results were conducted by the World Weightlifting Federation in November 2018, when he was training. In February 2019, the Vietnamese wrestler was officially banned from competing for 4 years and fined $5,000.
The talent of Vietnamese weightlifters has considered the possibility of retiring and finding another job. A 4-year sentence entails many risks, from problems maintaining expertise to psychology, as well as possibly missing out on good opportunities at other intersections in life. However, the love for the profession and the will to not give up helped Vinh persevere in life with weightlifting.
He does not blame the situation, but sees this as his valuable lesson that needs to be corrected. The athlete born in 1995 continued on his chosen path, even though 4 years of “vegetarian training” was an extremely harsh challenge for a top athlete. And as he shared, the motivation to attend the Olympics has motivated this athlete to continue moving forward.
After the penalty, Trinh Van Vinh returned in February 2023, turning 28 years old. The difficulties and challenges on the stage seemed to double. At the Asian Championships in May 2023 in Korea, the Bac Ninh athlete failed all three times in the 128kg snatch and ranked 7th in the push and pull with 163kg.
In September 2023, Vinh attended the world championships in Saudi Arabia and ASIAD 19 in China, reaching the same total weight of 292kg, outside the medal dispute round.
It wasn’t until February of this year that the “rare product” of Vietnamese weightlifting left its mark, winning 2 Bronze Medals (161kg push and 290kg total) at the Asian championship in Uzbekistan. This achievement is a stepping stone for him to later mark an impressive return with a spot in the 2024 Olympics.
North Korean weightlifter Pak Myongjin won the Silver Medal in the men’s 61kg category at ASIAD 19. Photo: ITN.
Opens up medal opportunities
Trinh Van Vinh’s achievements helped weightlifting affirm its position as a key sport in Vietnam, with 6 consecutive times winning official tickets to the Olympics, since the 2004 Athens Olympics. At the tournament taking place in Greece, Nguyen Thi Thiet in the women’s 63kg category is the only representative of Vietnamese weightlifting.
At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Nguyen Thi Thiet continued to participate, and Hoang Anh Tuan won the Silver Medal in the men’s 56kg category. Vietnamese weightlifting continued to shine in London 2012, with Tran Le Quoc Toan winning the Bronze Medal in the men’s 56kg category and Nguyen Thi Thuy competing in the women’s 53kg category.
The 2016 Rio Olympics set a record when Vietnamese weightlifters had 4 representatives, including: Thach Kim Tuan, Tran Le Quoc Toan (56kg men); Hoang Tan Tai (85kg male); Vuong Thi Huyen (48kg female). In the previous Olympics in Japan, the two participating spots belonged to Thach Kim Tuan (61kg men) and Hoang Thi Duyen (59kg women).
At the 2024 Olympics, besides the target on the number of athletes, Vietnamese sports also face a difficult problem of what to do to win medals. Once again, the responsibility and expectations of the entire sport will be placed on weightlifting, specifically 29-year-old weightlifter Trinh Van Vinh and some hope to share with the shooting team.
With weightlifting, Vinh’s latest result reached a total of 294kg, far below the record of 307kg he set at the SEA Games in 2017. And according to calculations, to be in the group with an Olympic medal in the men’s 61kg category, the strength Candidates must have a total weight of 300kg or more.
According to Mr. Nguyen Huy Hung – in charge of weightlifting (Department of Sports and Physical Training), from now until the 2024 Paris Olympics takes place, Vietnamese weightlifters will devote all their efforts to preparation. “Winning a ticket to the Olympics is difficult, competing for a medal in the men’s 61kg category is even more difficult because at this time many strong people are participating in the upper weight category after the International Olympic Committee limited the number of events included in the official competition of the sport. weightlifting at the 2024 Olympics.
However, Vinh’s weight is getting better and in competition, the most important thing is fighting technique. We continue to implement the next key investment program for him to achieve better results,” Mr. Hung said.
At the 2024 Olympics, Trinh Van Vinh will clash with many fierce opponents. Among them, Li Fabin (China) is a familiar face to Vietnamese weightlifting. At ASIAD 19, the Chinese athlete achieved 143kg in the snatch and 167kg in the clean and jerk, resulting in a total of 310kg to win the Gold Medal.
Trinh Van Vinh celebrates his achievement in participating in the 2024 Olympics. Photo: ITN
Trinh Van Vinh achieved a total lift of 292kg, ranked 6th, and Nguyen Tran Anh Tuan had a total lift of 294kg, ranked 5th. Li Fabin also won the 2020 Olympic Gold Medal with a more impressive achievement, total lift of 313kg (141kg snatch and 141kg snatch). 172kg pushlift), as well as winning the men’s 61kg world championship in 2019, 2022, 2023, with the highest total lift of 314kg.
Besides, Pak Myongjin (North Korea) is also a bright candidate competing for the number 1 position in the 61kg category. At the 2024 Asian Weightlifting Championship, taking place in February in Uzbekistan, Pak Myongjin won the Gold Medal with a total of 306kg (134kg in snatch and 172kg in push and pull).
Trinh Van Vinh ranked third with a total weight of 290kg, 16kg less than his opponent. Previously, the Korean wrestler lost to Li Fabin at ASIAD 19, reaching a total weight of 307kg. In addition, the rise of Morris Hampton from the US makes the race for a medal in this weight class even more fierce. This American athlete won the 2024 World Cup Weightlifting Silver Medal with a total lift of 303kg.
In the top 10 of the 61kg category, there are many competitors reaching the 300kg total threshold such as Ceniza John Febuar (Philippines, 300kg), Silachai Theerapong (Thailand, 299kg). Even veteran face Eko Yuli Irawan of Indonesia also maintained quite stable performance, reaching 300kg at the 2022 world championship, totaling 303kg to win the 32nd SEA Games Gold Medal.
Last year, Eko Yuli Irawan was promoted to the 67kg category, participated in World Grand Prix I and won the Gold Medal with a total of 321kg. Therefore, even though he is 35 years old, with class and extensive experience, Eko Yuli Irawan is still a formidable opponent in the medal race in France.
The coaching staff of the Vietnamese weightlifting team has developed a new training plan for Trinh Van Vinh. Most likely, he will receive long-term training abroad before going to Paris to compete. However, raising the achievement from 294kg in the World Cup to 300kg, the minimum level to compete for a medal, requires a lot of effort and luck for the candidate born in 1995.
Trinh Van Vinh has 3 months ahead for him to continue writing the magical story in Paris, France. “I have overcome a difficult journey and want to continue to make a mark on my country’s sports,” Vinh shared.
‘I am very happy and thank everyone for believing in me and helping me get through the most difficult times of my career. But it must be seen that my new competition results are only enough for me to pass the qualifying round and attend the 2024 Paris Olympics. I still have to work harder and try harder to improve my results. The 61kg class brings together many very strong and experienced opponents. Therefore, I will have to strictly follow the training program’ – Athlete Trinh Van Vinh.