Vietnam nominates athletics star for Olympic invitation slot

Lan, one of the top sprinters in Vietnam, was selected by the national athletics team to attend the Tokyo Olympics in July.

The 25-year-old won gold medals at Asian Games 2018 and the Asian Athletics Championship 2017 and 2019.

"The Olympic Organizing Committee has one invitation slot for Vietnamese athletics and decided to nominate Quach Thi Lan for the slot," Nguyen Manh Hung, general secretary of Vietnam Athletics Federation, told the press Tuesday.

However, this is only a nomination from Vietnam. An official document will be sent to the Olympic Tokyo Organizing Committee to confirm Lan's selection before the deadline on June 21. On July 1, based on evaluation, the Olympic Organizing Committee will confirm Vietnam's selection.

In case the Olympic Organizing Committee decides against Lan's nomination, Vietnam will propose another candidate.

If all procedures succeed, the Olympic Committee of Vietnam will officially recognize Lan as the representative of Vietnamese athletics at this year's Olympics. Vietnamese athletics has never won any qualification spot at the event.

In the announcement of the invitation slot for Vietnamese athletics, the Olympic Organizing Committee requested not to send an athlete that specialized in the 3,000 meter hurdles or 10,000 meter decathlon categories.