The last Vietnamese athlete to compete at Rio 2016 lost on the wrestling mat on Thursday night, but Team Vietnam has had the most successful Olympics ever in its history.

Wrestler Nguyen Thi Lua was beaten 0-5 by Senegal’s Isabelle Sambou in the women’s freestyle 56kg class, marking an end to Vietnam’s journey to Brazil, just three days before the Games ends this Sunday.

Team Vietnam left Rio 2016 with a gold and a silver medal, both won by shooter Hoang Xuan Vinh.

Vietnam won its first-ever Olympic medal at Sydney 2000, when taekwondo martial artist Tran Hieu Ngan brought home a silver. In Beijing eight years later, weightlifter Thach Kim Tuan also snatched a silver.

But finally, after 64 years, Vietnam’s wait for an Olympic gold medal has come to an end.

Vinh made history as the first-ever Vietnamese Olympic gold medalist, winning the men’s 10m air pistol on August 7. With the men’s 50m pistol silver medal secured two days later, the 42-year-old military man also set a new record as the only Vietnamese athlete to win two medals at an Olympic event since Vietnam’s introduction to the 1952 Games in Helsinki.

For Rio 2016, Team Vietnam consisted of 23 athletes, competing in athletics, badminton, fencing, gymnastics, judo, rowing, shooting, swimming, weightlifting, and wrestling.

This is also the first time Vietnam has sent so many athletes to an Olympic event.

As of Friday noon, Team Vietnam ranked 45/206 countries at Rio 2016.

Team Vietnam at Rio 2016. Photo: Google

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