National swimming coach passes away in quarantine

By Huy Nhat August 13, 2021 | 01:16 am PT

Coach Huang Guohui (R) with swimmer Nguyen Huy Hoang. Photo courtesy of Sai Gon Giai Phong Newspaper.

Huang Guohui, coach of Vietnamese swimmers at the recently concluded Tokyo Olympics, is suspected to have committed suicide while in quarantine. He was 57.

Guohui, who went by the Vietnamese name of Hoang Quoc Huy, was found dead on August 11 in the room of a hotel on Hanoi's Hang Bong Street, where other members of the Vietnam Olympic delegation were also quarantined after returning from Tokyo.

Authorities suspect suicide and are investigating the death.

Huy has been the coach of ace swimmer Nguyen Huy Hoang for the past six years, turning him into one of the most promising talents of Vietnam, winning three gold medals in SEA Games 2017 and 2019, a gold at the Youth Olympics 2018 and a silver and a bronze in Asian Games 2018.

Huy also coached top female swimmer Nguyen Thi Anh Vien for a short time at the Tokyo Olympics. In the event, both Hoang and Vien failed to make it past the heats.

The Chinese coach has been working in Vietnam since 2003. Under his mentorship, Vietnamese swimmers have won many medals across multiple SEA Games and Asian Games editions in the 2000s and 2010s.