Vietnam loses over half of athletes in Paris Olympics

Five more Vietnamese athletes were eliminated on Friday, including archers Le Quoc Phong and Do Thi Anh Nguyet. Phong lost 0-6 to Dan Olaru (Moldova) in the men’s individual event, while Nguyet lost 5-6 to Mobina Fallah (Iran) by a close margin in the round of 32 of the women’s individual event. Previously, Phong and Nguyet only ranked 24th in the mixed event.

Swimmer Vo Thi My Tien also failed to get past the women’s 200m event, while sprinter Tran Thi Nhi Yen got past the qualifiers but only finished seventh in the main event with 11.79 seconds. Pham Thi Hue also said goodbye to Paris when she could not make it to the women's heavyweight single sculls rowing semifinal.

Before that, six Vietnamese athletes had to stop their journey, including Le Duc Phat and Nguyen Thuy Linh in badminton, Vo Thi Kim Anh and Ha Thi Linh in boxing, Hoang Thi Tinh in judo and Le Thi Mong Tuyen in shooting.

Shooter Trinh Thu Vinh is one of Vietnam's biggest hopes for a medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Photo by Reuters

Among five Vietnamese athletes left at the Paris Olympics, experts believe shooter Trinh Thu Vinh and weightlifter Trinh Van Vinh have the greatest chance to win medals.

Vinh will compete in the final of the women's 25m pistol on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. (Hanoi time) with seven other opponents. Each athlete will shoot 10 rounds, with five shots in each round. After the fourth round, the eighth-ranked shooter will be eliminated. The seventh-ranked shooter will be out after the fifth round and so on.

The 2024 Paris Olympics have 16 official competition days and six have already passed. China leads the overall standings by Friday with 11 gold, 7 silver and 6 bronze medals. The U.S., after sitting out of the top 5 for several days, gradually caught up and climbed to second place with 9 gold, 15 silver, and 13 bronze medals.

The U.S. won four gold medals on Aug. 1, thanks to Kate Douglass (women's 200m breaststroke), Simone Biles (women's all-around gymnastics), Lee Kiefer, Lauren Scrubbs, Jacquelin Dubrovich, Maia Mei Weintraub (women's team fencing), and Justin Best, Nick Mead, Michael Grady, Liam Corrigan (men's quad rowing).

China claimed two more gold medals the same day, from Yang Jiayu (women's 20km walk) and Liu Yukun (men's 50m rifle). China and the U.S. are expected to continue the race for the top two positions in the remaining days of the Olympics.

Gymnast Simone Biles during her floor performance that won a gold medal for the U.S. at the Paris Olympics on Aug. 1, 2024. Photo by Reuters

As of Friday, 50 teams have won at least one medal at the Paris Olympics but there is still none from Southeast Asia.

Many Thai athletes have reached the quarterfinals in their events, such as Kunlavut Vitidsarn (men's singles badminton), Ratchanok Intanon (women's singles badminton), Chuthamat Raksat and Janjaem Suwannapheng (women's singles boxing). Indonesia also has Gregoria Mariska Tunjung who has reached the women's singles badminton quarterfinals, facing Intanon.

Malaysia is getting closer to a badminton medal, as Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik have reached the men's doubles semifinals, while Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan have reached the women's doubles semifinals. Also in this sport, Singapore's Loh Kean Yew has reached the men's singles quarterfinals, although he has to face defending champion Viktor Axelsen.

Philippines also has at least two athletes in the boxing quarterfinals, Carlo Paalam (men's featherweight) and Aira Villegas (women's flyweight). Gymnast Carlos Yulo has two finals left, in vault and floor. He is a former world champion in both events.