LookAtVietnam – Vietnamese cyclist Mai Cong Hieu has dominated the men’s national cycling time-trial event with an astonishing 11 titles over 11 years of competition.

Golden eyes: The national team’s Mai Cong Hieu of team Domesco Dong Thap wants to win at the SEA Games in Laos in December.

“I was born in Da Nang, but I built up my reputation in Dong Thap - where I collected most of the medals over the course of my career,” said Mai Cong Hieu.

He said strict discipline has been the key to sustaining his top position.

Hieu, who has two Southeast Asian Games gold medals in the men’s time-trial as well as medals in domestic and international races, trained with the national team in HCM City in preparation for the 25th SEA Games in Laos this December.

Home-made bike

Although he won his titles with the Dong Thap team, Hieu is proud of his native home, Da Nang, where he started cycling at the age of 14, when his mother saved up to buy him his first bicycle.

After training with the youth team in Da Nang, Hieu sold his first bike to buy spare parts for a new bicycle, which he and his father built together.

The young cyclist was ninth in his first national cycling championship, on his home-made bike, in Can Tho city in 1995.

That year, Dong Thap’s coach Tran Van Quyt called up Hieu for the southern team.

After just three years of training with the new team, Hieu dominated the men’s time trial event and has kept the title ever since.

“Sweating it out during road races has brought me the most titles in the sport. I can’t count how many medals I’ve won over the last decade.”

“But I can assure you that I’ve stood on the victory podium of the time trial 11 times,” Hieu said.

Hieu said he keeps his old lucky bike, at his father’s house in Da Nang as a memento of his first cycling triumph.

At the 1999 SEA Games in Brunei, Hieu grabbed his first international win when he was second in the road race.

He added another to the tally at the SEA Games in Malaysia.

Hieu also bagged a silver at the Asian Cycling Championship in Malaysia before winning the SEA Games gold in Viet Nam.

“The best result during my 18 year tenure with Domesco Dong Thap and the national team was when we claimed a silver medal at the Asian Championship,” said the cyclist.

All in the family

Three years ago, Hieu married cyclist Vu Hong Thuy.

The couple met in 1998 at the national sport centre in Ha Noi.

Thuy, who is a member of the national women’s team, won a gold medal at the 21st SEA Games in Malaysia in 2001.

The Hanoian cyclist said she first fell in love with Hieu in 2004 when she was 16.

“We love each other and we often train together at the national training camp in Ha Noi. I thought that eight years was a challenge for the two of us and we decided to end it with a wedding,” Thuy said.

“We had 20 days to prepare for the wedding in Ha Noi and Da Nang. We had only two days together because Hieu left for practice with the national squad in HCM City.”

“I’m an athlete, so I understand the sportsman’s life. We saved our honeymoon for a special day,” Thuy said.

One year after the wedding, Thuy left the national team to have a baby.

Now, she said she devotes her life to caring for her husband and child.

Thuy said she wants Hieu to climb to the top of the sport.

The couple live in Dong Thap with their two-year daughter and Hieu commutes home from HCM City on the weekends.

Traumatic experience

The 24th SEA Games in Thailand two years ago were a traumatic experience for Hieu, who failed to defend the gold medal in his favourite time-trial event.

He was eager for a hat-trick of SEA Games gold at Nakhon Ratchasima, but he was too nervous and both the road race and time trial.

He will have a chance to take back his position at the 25th SEA Games in December.

“I’ll go all out to win a gold medal at the SEA Games to give to my second child.

“This SEA Games may be my last chance because I’ll retire from the national team after the SEA Games,” Hieu said.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News