The desire to conquer the world tournament of Nghe An female diver

Turning Point

Born in 2007 in Huong Son district, Ha Tinh province, but due to family circumstances, Nguyen Tu Anh has lived with her grandparents in Quang Trung ward (Vinh city) since childhood.

In 2017, when she had just finished 4th grade at Quang Trung Primary School, during the summer break, Nguyen Tu Anh was sent by her grandparents to learn swimming at the swimming pool of Nghe An Sports Training and Coaching Center (now Nghe An Sports Training and Competition Center). Here, Tu Anh was directly taught the first swimming movements by Mr. Le Xuan Cuong - a swimming coach at the Center.

“After studying for 2 weeks, Mr. Cuong commented that I was “very talented in swimming” and asked, “Do you want to become a swimmer?” At that time, because I didn’t know anything about the life of an athlete, I asked permission to go home to ask my grandparents for their opinion. Even my grandparents were hesitant because they thought that becoming an athlete would be very hard. It was only after Mr. Le Xuan Cuong came to my house 4 times to persuade me that they agreed to let me become a swimmer,” Tu Anh said.

In mid-August 2017, when she was only 10 years old, Nguyen Tu Anh officially became a youth athlete of the Provincial Sports Training and Competition Center.

Under the guidance of coach Le Xuan Cuong, Nguyen Tu Anh quickly demonstrated outstanding qualities compared to her peers. After 2 years of training at Nghe An Sports Training and Competition Center, Nguyen Tu Anh was called to train with the National Youth Swimming Team at Da Nang National Sports Training Center.

In 2020, Tu Anh was tested in her first tournament, the National Club Swimming Championship in Thanh Hoa province. At this tournament, the 13-year-old girl won 4 Gold Medals, 1 Silver Medal, 1 Bronze Medal, thereby achieving the level of a high-performance athlete 1.

While she was expected to become a key swimmer of Nghe An province, Tu Anh encountered unexpected problems. First of all, in 2020 and 2021, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, most of the domestic swimming competitions had to be canceled, leading to Tu Anh no longer being able to maintain her form.

Besides, at this stage, she entered puberty, her body developed in a direction that was unfavorable for swimming. And the turning point came at the end of 2021. “Mr. Cuong told me that because my body was a bit heavy in the lower limbs, it would be very difficult to develop higher achievements in swimming. He also suggested that I should switch to practicing diving. I had seen my seniors in the diving department practice and found it very interesting, so I quickly agreed,” Nguyen Tu Anh said.

Impressive achievements

Tu Anh said that in the first years of becoming an athlete, she encountered many difficulties. “When I was first recruited to the Provincial Sports Training and Competition Center, I was only in grade 5. At home, I was taken care of by my grandparents. I only ate and studied culture, and had never played sports. When I first started practicing swimming, I had to exercise at high intensity, and often practiced in the hot sun, so I was very tired and wanted to give up many times. But with the encouragement of my grandparents, mother and especially the teachers, I tried to overcome it.

When I went to Da Nang to practice with the national youth team, I once had to go home because I was too tired, but then my grandmother encouraged me a lot. She even came to Da Nang to stay with me for more than 2 weeks to help me feel less sad and homesick.

When I came to practice diving at the Provincial Sports Training and Competition Center, the swimming pool had no roof, athletes like me had to practice in the hot sun, making my skin dark. At that time, I had entered puberty, so seeing my skin so dark made me feel very discouraged and self-conscious when meeting people. But once again, my family and teachers persistently advised and encouraged me with all their heart, so I was more determined in practicing and competing," Tu Anh shared.

In June 2022, after half a year of switching to diving training, Nguyen Tu Anh participated in her first tournament in this sport, the National Age Group Swimming Championship held in Thua Thien Hue province. At this tournament, Tu Anh won 3 Gold Medals, 1 Silver Medal, 2 Bronze Medals, breaking the national record in the 50m distance.

In July 2022, at the National Youth Swimming and Diving Championship held in Da Nang, Tu Anh also won 1 Gold Medal and 2 Bronze Medals. Those achievements made Tu Anh more determined to stick with diving.

2023 was a year of great success for Nguyen Tu Anh with impressive achievements in domestic tournaments, in the 50m, 100m, 200m and 100m inflatable events. In the 6 tournaments that this female athlete participated in, she won 5 Gold Medals, including 2 Gold Medals at the National Swimming and Diving Competition for Excellent Athletes, 4 Gold Medals at the National Swimming and Diving Club Championship.

The remaining tournaments that Tu Anh won Gold Medals were the National Swimming and Diving Championship 25m pool and the National Swimming and Diving Championship age group. In addition, there were many Silver and Bronze Medals.

Impressive achievements in domestic tournaments helped Tu Anh be called up to the National Youth Team to compete in the Asian Youth Diving Championship held in Thailand. In her first time participating in an international tournament, Tu Anh competed very calmly and confidently and won 3 Gold Medals and 1 Bronze Medal.

Nguyen Tu Anh said: "I will continue to practice hard and make efforts in tournaments to achieve the highest results. Especially, being able to practice and compete with youNguyen Trong Dung- who won Gold Medals at international tournaments such as the World Cup Diving Championship, Asian Diving Championship, SEA Games... has helped me gain more experience as well as determination".

My biggest wish in 2024 is to be called up to the National team to compete in the Diving World Cup held in Thailand and win a Gold Medal like Mr. Dung did in 2022.

Diver Nguyen Tu Anh (Nghe An Sports Training and Competition Center)

Coach Ho Phi Luoc - Head of the swimming and diving department of Nghe An Sports Training and Competition Center said: "With the brilliance of young talents like Nguyen Trong Dung and Nguyen Tu Anh, Nghe An diving has gradually regained its position in the national arena as well as the overall achievements of high-performance sports in the province.

The results achieved at the National Championships and youth tournaments are the best achievements of Nghe An diving in recent years. This is a solid foundation and also a motivation for the diving team to continue to conquer new goals on the "green race track"./.