Sharing of the athlete who won the Gold Medal in the 5,000 m distance

Erase the "curse" of coming in second

The tournament ended more than a week ago, but until now, athlete Mai Nhat Thuy (Nghia Dan sports team) still feels happy when he finished and won the 5,000m distance. For him, it was a "historic" victory because after many years of participating in tournaments and winning many second prizes, this was the first time he won convincingly. Overcoming this tournament, Mai Nhat Thuy also overcame his "curse" to reach many other tournaments in the future.

Mai Nhat Thuy participates in the Nghe An Provincial Sports Festival in 2022. Photo: Hoang Cuong

At this year's Sports Festival, Mai Nhat Thuy competed in two athletics events, the 1,500m and 5,000m. In the 1,500m race, the athlete from the Nghia Dan team admitted that he was not focused and due to lack of experience in professional tournaments, he made a mistake right at the starting line: "I felt like I couldn't control the starting signal, so I entered the race about 30m later than the other athletes. Therefore, although I accelerated and broke away quickly, I couldn't finish successfully and accepted the Silver Medal."

After the first failure, athlete Mai Nhat Thuy said that she was very afraid that the "curse" of coming in second would happen again. Therefore, when entering the 5,000m race, Mai Nhat Thuy was quite worried. To create a comfortable mindset for herself, Thuy relaxed before the race and "closed her eyes" when she heard the starting signal to focus completely on the race track.

In the official competition, Mai Nhat Thuy also said that the race was not easy when her opponent was an athlete from Hoang Mai town who always surpassed other athletes in the first 10 laps. When there were only 2 laps left, Thuy broke away and successfully finished to bring home the first Gold Medal for her district.

Mai Nhat Thuy and teammates at the 2022 Sports Congress. Photo: Hoang Cuong

Sharing about this race, athlete Mai Nhat Thuy said: All the athletes participating in the 5,000 meter race are experienced and have high endurance. Therefore, when athlete Hoang Mai decided to speed up right from the start, I was worried and thought that if I continued to chase and run at the same speed as the athlete above, I would run out of energy in the final rounds. Therefore, I kept my energy in the first rounds and when the leading athlete was starting to slow down in the last 2 rounds, I had the opportunity to break away and successfully finish. This is the first time I have participated in a professional tournament and brought home a Gold Medal for the team, so I am really happy.

Fun on the Run

Mai Nhat Thuy is currently working at TH Dairy Food Joint Stock Company in Nghia Dan and is just an amateur athlete. Before that, Mai Nhat Thuy was a student of Biotechnology at Hanoi National University of Education. After graduating from university, by chance, the athlete from Thanh Hoa was recruited to work at TH Nghe An and has been with Nghia Dan for 7 years now. In his heart, he considers Nghia Dan his second hometown and feels very honored to be selected to attend the Provincial Sports Festival.

Each route helps Mai Nhat Thuy feel the beauty of her homeland and country. Photo: NVCC

CompetitionathleticsBut before that, the first sport that Mai Nhat Thuy loved was badminton and she participated in some amateur tournaments in the district. Passionate about sports, Thuy registered to participate in the "No Limit - Sasuke Vietnam" competition organized by Vietnam Television. Although she was eliminated early in this competition, after a period of training to participate in the competition, Thuy found new joy in athletics. In early 2019, the badminton movement in the district also began to calm down and Thuy decided to choose athletics to satisfy her passion for sports.

When she first started training, Thuy surprised her friends because on the first lap, she was able to conquer the 5km distance and seemed to not encounter any obstacles. Through the community of people who love athletics, Thuy began to practice systematically and scientifically, and increasingly loved this sport. Thuy said that every day he practiced about 1 hour in the morning or 1 hour in the afternoon, after work and mainly ran around Nghia Dan town. Especially on weekends and long holidays, Thuy felt more comfortable because he could spend almost 1 day on athletics.

Talking about this hobby, Mai Nhat Thuy added: I often run long distances of 60 - 70 km. My running route usually starts from the town and then runs to Nghia Lac, Nghia Lam, Nghia Khanh to the Co Do Farm. For me, each long run is a time to explore the land where I live and feel very interesting. I see my homeland is really beautiful.

After more than 3 years of pursuing athletics, Mai Nhat Thuy has gradually made his mark in his community and joined many different races. In the competitions that Thuy participated in, he remembers the most the one organized by Runner Vinh at the end of 2019 with a 21 km race (running 7 laps around the lake). At that time, Thuy was a "newbie" and a completely unfamiliar name, so in the first laps, he was completely unnoticed. However, in the final laps, Thuy broke through and finished in second place to the surprise of many people.

Later, Thuy also participated in many other competitions in Hanoi, Ninh Binh, Vung Tau, Quang Binh... and made her mark with many different awards. Mai Nhat Thuy said, "The attraction of athletics competitions is not the awards but the spread of these competitions. Coming to the tournaments, I have many new friends, can exercise, maintain my passion and have interesting experiences. More importantly, I can explore the country and love my Fatherland more."

A tournament that Mai Nhat Thuy participated in in Ninh Binh. Photo: NVCC

With a passion for athletics, Mai Nhat Thuy has also started to establish a community of runners in Nghia Dan and Thai Hoa town. The increasing number of people participating in training and responding to the movement also helps him to be more motivated in connecting and developing this sport locally. He also shared that: Running seems to have completely changed me, from the way I look at things, think about problems, and react to difficulties in life. Therefore, I also want to spread this positive spirit to everyone...