Reasons behind Vietnamese weightlifter's Olympic failure

At the Olympic men's 61 kg category Sunday, Tuan failed to register a total. He could only complete the snatch by lifting 126 kilograms. In the clean and jerk event, he failed thrice.

Before Tuan entered the competition, many experts said he needed to reach a total of 298 kg to claim the bronze medal. To achieve this, Tuan would only have to perform as usual. The 27-year-old even reached 304 kg at SEA Games 2019, so it seemed like scoring an Olympic bronze would not be a challenge. However, disaster struck.

The weightlifter who won the bronze medal this year, Kazakhstan’s Son Igor only lifted a total of 294 kg. In normal form, Tuan could easily surpass this mark.

Speaking to Tuoi Tre newspaper, Do Dinh Khang, general secretary of Vietnam Weightlifting Federation, said Tuan failed due to his mentality. Khang affirmed that if Tuan was confident and showed what he got, he would have claimed the medal.

"Thach Kim Tuan and Hoang Thi Duyen also faced a lot of difficulty during their Olympics preparation. In late April when returning from Olympic qualifiers in Uzbekistan, both athletes had to stay in quarantine for over 40 days. They were unable to train during those days and when they finished quarantine, only got a month to train. Also in the past two years, they didn't compete much in international tournaments due to Covid-19," Khang said.

Vietnamese weightlifting will now put all hopes on Duyen, who will compete in the women’s 59 kg category on Tuesday.