It sounds already weird for a novice rower to be unable to swim, but a seasoned rower from Vietnam who made it to the ongoing London Olympics strangely admitted she cannot swim a stroke. Vietnamese top rower Pham Thi Thao has secured a number of trophies including a bronze medal at the Asian championship but she cannot swim further than 20m. This is a revelation that took the public by surprise. Thao, along with her teammate Pham Thi Hai, was Tuesday eliminated from the London Olympics after a play-off race in the women’s 2000m lightweight double sculls event, where they finished fifth out of the six contenders. Thao began to take up rowing four years ago by joining the Ho Tay (West Lake) rowing club in Hanoi, and soon had an unforgettable memory during her very first days with the club.Nearly drowned Thao admitted to Vietnamese media that one day in 2008, she asked to skip a training session as she felt tired, and rowed all the way back from the lake to the mainland, when her boat overturned and eventually sank. Unable to swim, Thao could only stick to the sinking boat and shouted for help. Fortunately the call was heard by her teammates, who immediately rushed to rescue her. Thao had to stop training for a week to mentally recover. Only by then did her coaches realize she could not swim as the 23-year-old had kept it a secret because anyone unable to swim is not allowed to be in the rowing team under Vietnamese regulations. The coaches of the national rowing team then ruled that Thao either choose to learn how to swim or quit the squad. They even allowed her to stop practicing rowing to have time for swimming lessons. The rower, hailing from the northern province of Thai Binh’s countryside, tried her best to learn how to stay afloat but she cannot swim further than 20m. Finally, she asked to continue rowing without the ability to swim and the coaches accepted. She has since been trained under strict safety management and is not allowed to practice alone. However, when it comes to rowing, Thao has talents with strong will and perfect stamina. She earned two gold medals at 2011 SEA Games in Indonesia, and a bronze at the Asian Championship in Korea, which was also the Olympics qualifier. Unfortunately she could not achieve the dream of bringing home an Olympic medal.