The silver medals won recently by Vu Thi Huong at the Asian Athletics Championship are more valuable than gold medals Vietnam took at the Asian Indoor Games, says coach Nguyen Dinh Minh.

Vu Thi Huong at the Asian Athletics Champs.

Huong scores silver double at Asian Athletics Championships

Coach Minh and runner Vu Thi Huong talked with Tuoi Tre newspaper after they returned from China on November 17.

What could you tell us about the silver medals at the Asian Athletics Championship 2009?

Minh: I still remember that at the Asian Athletics Championship 2007 in Jordan, Huong won a bronze medal, which marked her first appearance in the Asian arena. This time, Huong changed the colour of medal from a bronze to two silver medals for the women’s 100m and 200 races.

Obviously, the two silver medals shows Huong’s hard work, her strong will and here stability. Though they are silver medals, in my opinion they are more valuable than gold medals that Vietnam won at the recent 3^rd Asian Indoor Games (AIG) because the Asian Athletics Championship gathers the strongest field.

Huong: It is true that the Asian Athletics Championship was very fierce with all the strong athletes in the region represented. Uzbekistan’s Khubbieve, who won a silver medal at AIG 3, also joined the tournament but she ranked the 8^th out of 8 runners in the finals. We prepared very well to achieve our result.

Though Huong won two silver medals, she has run faster and the overall time was slow. How do you explain this?

Huong and her coach Nguyen Dinh Minh.

Minh: I think Huong’s performance at this event is acceptable. Huong won the silver medal for women’s 100m running at 11.50 seconds, which was lower than her best record (11.43 seconds) at the national athletics championship but the gap is not wide.

Japan’s Takahashi Momoko won the gold medal for women’s 200m race at 23.53 second, lower than Huong’s record at the national athletics champs two months ago (23.39 sseconds).

But for experts, this phenomenon is very normal and it often happens in sport games.

It is difficult to say why because it depends on the performance of each athlete, the environment and weather.

In Huong’s case, I believe that if the weather was not so harsh (6oC) and the schedule was more relaxing (athletes had to run three times in the qualifier, semifinal rounds and in the relay race), Huong’s record would have been better.

Huong: That’s the interesting thing about sports. I agreed with the opinion that in a training cycle, each athlete has the best period when they are at the height of their ability. So it is not surprise when Vietnam’s national records may be higher than the record of an Asian champion at a specific tournament.

What have you worked on for the Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) in Laos this December?

Minh: We are now at the National Sports Training Centre in Hanoi to prepare for this event.

Huong: I know that this is the last important event of the year so we have to work hard. Our aim is very clear: doing our best!

VietNamNet/Tuoi Tre