The Vietnamese sports delegation to the Paris 2024 Olympics now retains no hope of medaling, marking the country’s second consecutive Games edition without a medal and highlighting a significant decline in its global sporting performance.

Vietnam’s dream of winning a medal in Paris vanished following weightlifter Trinh Van Vinh’s failure in the men’s 61kg weightlifting event on Wednesday night.

Vinh was the second-to-last Vietnamese athlete still competing in Paris, with canoeist Nguyen Thi Huong set to be the final competitor on Thursday afternoon (Vietnam time). 

However, experts believe Huong’s chances of winning a medal at the 2024 Olympics are virtually nil.

Meanwhile, most members of the Vietnamese delegation to Paris returned home on Monday and Tuesday.

17 Olympic Games iterations, 5 medals

Vietnam’s sports delegation made its Olympic debut in 1952. 

Since then, the Southeast Asian country has participated in the Summer Olympics a total of 17 times.

Its first Olympic medal came in the form of a silver, earned by taekwondo fighter Tran Hieu Ngan in the women’s 57kg category at the Sydney 2000 Games. 

Despite losing to South Korea's Jung Jae Eun in the final, Hieu Ngan’s silver medal marked a historic milestone for Vietnamese sports on the Olympic stage.

Eight years later, weightlifter Hoang Anh Tuan won Vietnam’s second Olympic medal, a silver in the men’s 56kg weightlifting category at the Beijing 2008 Olympics. 

Tuan achieved a total lift of 292kg, just 2kg less than China’s gold medalist Long Qingquan.

Weightlifting continued to bring success with Tran Le Quoc Toan’s bronze medal in the men’s 56kg category at the London 2012 Olympics, marking Vietnam’s third Olympic medal.

In the summer of 2016, marksman Hoang Xuan Vinh made history by claiming one gold and one silver medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, becoming the most successful Vietnamese athlete in Olympic history.

To date, Vietnam has accumulated a total of five Olympic medals, garnered by four athletes. 

However, this number has remained stagnant for the past eight years. 

In the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, held in 2021 due to COVID-19, and the Paris 2024 Olympics, Vietnamese athletes left medalless.  

Declining performance

Vietnam’s sports performance is not only poor but also showing a gradual decline in competitiveness.

From the Atlanta 1996 Olympics in the U.S. to the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Games in Brazil, Vietnam steadily increased its number of athletes. 

For the summer of 2016 in Brazil, there were 23 Vietnamese athletes competing. 

However, this number dropped to 18 in Tokyo 2020 and slid further to just 16 this year.

In Tokyo 2020, marksman Hoang Xuan Vinh was unable to replicate his previous success and failed to advance past the qualifying round.

In various sports, including athletics, swimming, badminton, boxing, gymnastics, and rowing, Vietnamese athletes largely participated for experience rather than medal contention.

Weightlifting, the sport with Vietnam’s highest potential for medals, also saw disappointment. 

At Tokyo 2020, weightlifter Hoang Thi Duyen finished fifth in the women’s 59kg category, with a total lift 6kg short of bronze.

At Paris 2024, shooting and weightlifting were expected to be Vietnam’s best chances for success. 

Markswoman Trinh Thu Vinh made a notable effort by reaching the finals in both the women’s 10m air pistol and 25m sport pistol events, though she remained behind the top global competitors.

In weightlifting, Trinh Van Vinh’s failure to successfully lift any weight in the snatch competition was a significant setback for a sport that had previously been a source of hope for Vietnamese sports fans.

Overall, the current state of Vietnamese sports reflects not only the disappointment of empty-handed results but also a broader issue: there are very few athletes with the potential to compete for Olympic medals.

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