Vietnamese Athletics: From My Dinh Stadium to Continental Arenas — The Journey, the Limits and the Ambition to Rise

VIETNAMESE ATHLETICS: FROM MY DINH STADIUM TO CONTINENTAL ARENAS — THE JOURNEY, THE LIMITS AND THE AMBITION TO RISE

1. A FOUNDATIONAL SPORT

Within Vietnam's high-performance sports system, athletics occupies a distinctive position. It is the sport with the largest number of events on the programme of any major multi-sport games, spanning sprints, middle-distance and long-distance running, relays, hurdles, steeplechase, long jump, triple jump, high jump, pole vault, shot put, javelin, discus, hammer throw and race walking. For that reason, athletics is often described as the queen of sports — the discipline that distributes the largest number of medals and the clearest indicator of a nation's physical base, sports-science capability and human-resource depth.

In Vietnam, athletics is not only a competitive discipline but also a compulsory component of physical education in schools. From school PE lessons built around short sprints, endurance running and long jump to provincial and national student competitions, athletics creates a broad talent-identification network. That network is the primary supplier of athletes to provincial gifted-sport schools and national training centres.

Yet an important position in the system does not mean athletics in Vietnam has resources to match. This is among the most competitive sports in the world: participation is wide, medal opportunities are numerous, but the performance gap between tiers of nations is stark. A Vietnamese athlete may lead Southeast Asia while still trailing the continental leaders by a meaningful margin, and the gap widens further at world level. That is an objective reality that should be viewed calmly, without either embellishment or pessimism.

1. THE FIGURES WHO DEFINED A DECADE

The period from 2026 to the present can be seen as one in which a generation of Vietnamese track-and-field athletes matured clearly. If one name must be chosen, Nguyen Thi Oanh is the first to appear in most specialist discussions.

Nguyen Thi Oanh is capable of competing across multiple distances, from 1,500 metres, 3,000 metres steeplechase through to 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres. Competing across distances with a dense schedule is rare for a middle- and long-distance runner. A notable feature of her career is that she has competed and trained under health conditions that were not entirely favourable, with kidney-related issues she herself has discussed publicly. Sustaining elite results in that context points to a high physical base and competitive will.

Alongside Nguyen Thi Oanh, Nguyen Thi Huyen has been a pillar in the 400 metres and 400 metres hurdles. These events require a combination of speed, speed endurance and hurdling technique. At Southeast Asian level, Vietnamese athletes in the 400 metres group have repeatedly featured among the leaders, creating a relatively stable tradition.

Quach Thi Lan is another name associated with the women's 400 metres hurdles. At continental level, Vietnamese performances in this event have at times reached the medal group, showing that competitiveness is not confined to Southeast Asia.

In the jumping events, Bui Thi Thu Thao is the most frequently cited name in modern Vietnamese athletics history. She is associated with the women's long jump and has achieved results at continental level — one of the rare milestones for Vietnamese athletics on the Asian Games stage.

Le Tu Chinh represents the sprint group — 100 metres and 200 metres. This is a group in which Vietnamese athletics has made notable regional progress, although sustaining results across multiple cycles remains a major challenge.

In race walking, Nguyen Thi Thanh Phuc is the representative figure in the women's 20 km event. Race walking is a specialised discipline demanding strict technique and strong psychological endurance, since athletes can be cautioned or disqualified for breaching technical rules on leg position and foot contact.

On the men's side, middle- and long-distance events have produced athletes who reached high placings at regional level, showing that the talent pool is distributed relatively widely rather than concentrated in a few localities.

1. THE SEA GAMES — ASSERTING REGIONAL STANDING

Southeast Asia is the nearest stage and the one where Vietnamese athletics has won the most. As a member of the Southeast Asian Athletics Association, Vietnamese delegations have regularly featured in the leading group of the athletics medal table at the SEA Games.

SEA Games 31, hosted by Vietnam, was a significant milestone. It was a games at which the host athletes competed at home, before a domestic crowd, under intense pressure for results. My Dinh National Stadium hosted the athletics programme and is a venue tied to many memories for Vietnamese fans.

SEA Games 32, held in Cambodia, continued to see Vietnamese athletes dominate several event groups, particularly women's middle- and long-distance. Importantly, the success came not only from a few individuals but also from the depth of the squad in certain event groups.

It must be acknowledged objectively, however, that SEA Games results have limited reference value. This is a regional stage bringing together countries whose athletics development levels are uneven. A SEA Games gold medal is an achievement worth celebrating and meaningful to the athlete, but it does not mean that athlete is in the medal-contention group at continental or world level. Assessing regional results accurately is a necessary condition for building a sound development roadmap.

SEA Games 33 has been assigned to Thailand. It is a games at which Vietnamese athletics will face heightened competitive pressure, since Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia all have significant investment programmes in athletics, particularly in sprints and relays.

1. THE ASIAN GAMES AND THE LIMITS OF THE REGION

If the SEA Games is where regional standing is asserted, the Asian Games is the real test of standard. At this level, Vietnamese athletes must compete with countries whose athletics programmes rank among the continent's best, including China, Japan, South Korea, India, Qatar, Bahrain and the Central Asian nations.

The performance gap between the continental leaders and the tier below is very wide. In many events, qualifying for an Asian Games final already requires marks equivalent to or better than the national records of many Southeast Asian countries. This is an objective reality reflecting differences in resources, facilities, sports science and domestic competitive density.

Vietnam's Asian Games results in athletics, though few, carry weight because they demonstrate that under certain conditions — an athlete of exceptional quality, an event suited to Vietnamese physical characteristics, a carefully prepared training cycle — reaching the continental medal group is entirely possible.

Lessons from successful cases point to several decisive factors. First, choosing the right events and avoiding spreading resources across events where Vietnamese athletes' physique and muscle structure offer no advantage. Second, concentrating investment on a small group of priority athletes rather than allocating evenly. Third, maintaining stability in the coaching staff and training programme across years.

1. THE OLYMPICS — AN UNFINISHED DREAM

The Olympic Games are the summit of world sport and the hardest target for Vietnamese athletics. Olympic entry in athletics is determined mainly through two routes: achieving the entry standard published by World Athletics during the qualification period, or accumulating World Ranking points.

For countries with developing athletics programmes, meeting the standard directly in many events is extremely difficult, because Olympic standards sit at very high levels. The more realistic route is accumulating World Ranking points, which requires athletes to compete in many recognised international meets throughout the qualification cycle. This raises questions of funding, competition scheduling and the ability to maintain consistent form.

At Olympic level, the realistic target for Vietnamese athletics in the short and medium term is to secure qualification and improve personal performances at the Games, rather than to target medals. Setting targets accurately helps allocate resources sensibly and avoids imposing unnecessary pressure on athletes.

On the positive side, the number of Vietnamese track-and-field athletes able to compete in World Athletics international meets has increased compared with earlier periods. Regularly competing against stronger opponents is an important condition for improvement, because international competition experience cannot be replaced by training alone.

1. THE DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM: FROM GIFTED SCHOOLS TO NATIONAL CENTRES

Vietnam's athletics development system operates on multiple tiers. The lowest tier is school sport and district- and provincial-level competitions. The next tier comprises provincial and municipal gifted-sport schools, where athletes are identified and developed in their teenage years. The top tier is the national training centres and national teams.

This model has the advantage of drawing on a wide network and suiting Vietnam's population distribution. It also exposes limitations. First is uneven quality between localities: some provinces and cities have strong traditions and good investment in athletics, while many others are limited in both coaches and facilities. Second is a break in the pipeline at the transition from junior to senior level, when many talented athletes do not continue in high-performance sport because of study, career or income considerations.

Another issue is that talent identification still relies heavily on direct observation and school competitions, whereas many countries already apply physical assessment, biological indicators and genetic analysis to direct individuals towards suitable events early. Selectively applying such methods could improve the efficiency of talent identification and development.

Beyond that, the role of families and schools in enabling young athletes to pursue athletics is crucial. Many talents are lost not for lack of ability but for lack of a pathway that safeguards both training and education, along with a clear career prospect after competitive retirement.

1. SPORTS SCIENCE, NUTRITION AND RECOVERY

In modern athletics, the gap between leading athletes is often decided by very small details. One hundredth of a second in the 100 metres or a few centimetres in the long jump can be the difference between a medal and a place off the podium. Support elements such as technical analysis, control of training volume and intensity, sports nutrition and post-training recovery therefore play an increasingly important role.

Video analysis and motion analysis are widely used tools. For technical events such as long jump, triple jump, javelin or hurdling, recording and analysing each movement phase helps coaches adjust technique more precisely than observation by eye alone.

Sports nutrition has a direct impact on performance and athlete health. For long-distance events, fuelling before, during and after competition must be calculated specifically. For strength and speed events, protein ratios and nutrient timing affect muscle recovery. Building individualised nutrition plans rather than applying one plan to an entire squad is an inevitable trend.

Recovery is often undervalued. Measures such as adequate sleep, massage, physiotherapy, cold-water immersion, recovery devices and training-load management play an important role in injury prevention and in maintaining form throughout a season. In long-distance events, training-load management is the key factor in avoiding overuse injuries.

1. COMPETITION RULES, ANTI-DOPING AND INTEGRITY

Athletics has a very detailed and strict technical rule system. Rules on false starts, running outside one's lane, obstructing opponents, technical violations in race walking, and invalid attempts in jumping and throwing events can all lead to an athlete being removed from an event. Mastering these rules is a mandatory part of coaching work.

An important aspect concerns performance-assistance conditions. Marks achieved with wind assistance above the permitted threshold will not be recognised as official marks for ranking or record purposes in certain events. Similarly, rules on equipment, competition shoes and competition conditions are specified in detail. These factors directly affect how the true value of a performance is assessed.

Anti-doping is non-negotiable. Athletics is among the sports with the highest testing density in the international sports system. Athletes at national and international level must comply with whereabouts-filing rules, be available for out-of-competition testing, and provide biological samples on request. The athlete biological passport is a tool for monitoring biological markers over time to detect abnormal changes.

For Vietnamese sport, strict compliance with anti-doping rules is not only a matter of results but also of national reputation. A single violation can affect the image of an entire sports system and erase the gains of years of investment. Education, communication and internal control must therefore be maintained continuously, especially among young athletes.

1. THE ECONOMICS OF ATHLETICS: SPONSORSHIP, MEDIA AND MARKETS

Compared with football or certain high-profile combat sports, Vietnamese athletics has a more limited commercial market. This is common to athletics in many countries, not unique to Vietnam. Revenue from broadcasting rights, team sponsorship and individual athlete contracts in athletics is typically significantly lower than in popular sports.

The main resources for Vietnamese athletics currently come from the state budget through the national and local sports systems, along with support from domestic sponsors at certain major events. Diversifying resources is an inevitable requirement for raising training quality, especially the ability to organise overseas training camps and participate in international competitions.

Media plays an important role in creating value for the sport. Athletics events only genuinely attract audiences when there are compelling stories and sufficiently tight contests. Building athlete profiles, telling the story of training and overcoming difficulty, and organising competitions that are exciting in competitive terms are directions that can raise the sport's appeal to the public.

Mass-participation running events are a notable phenomenon in recent years. The growth of the running movement in major cities has created a large community of runners and opened a new market for running-related products and services. Although this is a mass movement rather than high-performance sport, it has an indirect positive effect on public awareness of athletics.

1. FACILITIES AND STADIUMS

Facilities directly affect training quality. A standard track, a landing pit with adequate matting, and a throwing area that is both large enough and up to standard are minimum conditions. At national level, My Dinh National Stadium is the main venue for major athletics events. Several national sports training centres are also equipped with tracks and technical areas for training.

However, the distribution of facilities across localities remains uneven. Some provinces and cities have stadiums meeting the standard to host national competitions, while many others still use ageing facilities that do not meet technical requirements. Investing in upgrading local facilities is a condition for raising development quality at the grassroots.

A less-discussed aspect is seasonal training conditions. In some regions, hot, humid weather and heavy rain during part of the year can disrupt outdoor training plans. Arranging camps in locations with more favourable climate conditions, or at altitude to exploit the benefits of altitude training, are measures used elsewhere in the world and could be studied for appropriate application.

1. CHALLENGES: HUMAN RESOURCES, GENERATIONAL TRANSITION AND REGIONAL COMPETITION

The biggest medium-term challenge for Vietnamese athletics is generational transition. The generation of athletes who produced standout results over roughly the past decade will gradually move into the final phase of their careers or retire. Finding successors capable of maintaining regional standing is not straightforward, because it is a process that takes years and depends on many factors.

The second challenge is intensifying competition from countries in the region. Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore all have athletics investment programmes of varying scale. Some have advantages in facilities or in using athletes of immigrant origin in certain events. This makes holding the regional lead harder than before.

The third challenge is athlete income and career prospects. Athletics demands long-term investment of time and a competitive career may end at a relatively young age. Ensuring athletes have a clear career pathway after retirement — through coaching, teaching, sports management or related fields — is important for attracting and retaining talent.

The fourth challenge is sports medicine and injury management. In long-distance and jumping events, tendon, muscle and joint injuries are common risks. Early detection of overload signals and timely intervention can extend an athlete's competitive career.

1. OPPORTUNITIES AND A DEVELOPMENT ROADMAP

Alongside the challenges, Vietnamese athletics has clear opportunities. First, focused investment in a limited number of event groups can be more effective than spreading resources thinly. Events where Vietnamese physical characteristics offer a relative advantage — such as women's middle- and long-distance and certain technical events — should be prioritised.

Second, increasing international competition is a necessary route to improvement. Every outing against stronger opponents is a chance to learn and accumulate experience. Building a sensible international competition calendar, balancing performance goals and ranking-point accumulation, needs to be calculated at management level.

Third, applying sports science systematically can deliver significant gains. Analysing training data, monitoring physiological markers, managing training load and individualising programmes are promising directions.

Fourth, developing the running movement and mass athletics events can create a broader social base for the sport. A society with many runners is a society with more talent-identification potential and more demand to follow elite athletics.

1. CONCLUSION

Vietnamese athletics stands at what is in some ways a turning point. The achievements of roughly the past decade are the result of investment, athletes' efforts and targeted coaching. At the same time, limitations in human-resource depth, facilities, sports science and the commercial market remain barriers to be addressed.

Assessing Vietnam's position on the regional and continental map accurately is a necessary condition for building a realistic development roadmap. SEA Games results are an important foundation but should not be the final destination. Improving standing at continental level and securing qualification for major international competitions are more feasible targets with higher reference value.

What matters is persistence. Developing athletics is a long-term process requiring continuous investment across many cycles; results cannot be achieved overnight. Maintaining stability in policy, in coaching staff and in youth development programmes is decisive for long-term success.

With a talented generation of athletes, a system with accumulated depth and a society increasingly engaged with sport, Vietnamese athletics has grounds to expect further progress. The road from My Dinh Stadium to continental and world arenas is long, but it has been started and is being continued.