'Wildcard' team wins gold medal in long jump for Vietnam.

In his first SEA Games appearance, Bui Van Dong brought home a gold medal for the Vietnamese delegation in the long jump event.

"I felt so happy, so incredibly happy," Dong shared. "I had calculated that I might win the gold medal, but at that moment, I was so happy that I didn't think about anything else."

Bui Van Dong opens up a bright future for the men's long jump event. Photo: Pham Duong.

Dong is one of the new discoveries in Vietnamese athletics and earned his place at the SEA Games through a wildcard. Bui Van Dong was added to the team after winning the gold medal at the 2017 Ho Chi Minh City Open Athletics Championships with a performance of 7.89 meters. This is a record far exceeding the 7.75 meters of Supanara Ayudhaya, the gold medalist at the 28th SEA Games.

On the evening of August 24th, Dong's jump was slightly worse than his performance in the previous competition, reaching only 7.83 meters. However, even with that, he was still 0.05 meters ahead of the second-place finisher, Swandi Wijaya.

The Indonesian competitor put pressure on him in the fourth jump, achieving 7.78 meters, while Dong's best performance in the first jump was only 7.64 meters. However, in the fifth and penultimate jump, Dong reached 7.83 meters.

Bui Van Dong's victory capped off a fantastic day of athletics with 5 gold medals, 2 silver medals, and 2 bronze medals.

According to VNE