Thai athlete won the first Gold Medal for Nghe An athletics in the women's 200m

This is the first Gold Medal in the women's 200m race.athleticsNghe An won in a national tournament.

Nurturing dreams from the flood zone

When thinking about Ky Son land, surely all of us are haunted by the terrible flash flood in early October 2022. After just one night, many villages were deeply submerged in floodwaters. In particular, in Hoa Son village, the source of Huoi Giang stream, the damage was even more severe. Among them, the small house of Kha Thanh Truc (born in 2001) had all of her property swept away by the flood. After the flood, the house was deeply submerged in mud, and the livestock, poultry and rice stored from the previous harvest were all swept away by the flood.

Kha Thanh Truc. Photo: NVCC

At that time, Truc was training with Nghe An athletes in Nam Dinh to prepare for the 2022 National Sports Festival. At 4:00 a.m. on October 2, 2022, she suddenly received a call from her parents saying that the rain was getting heavier and the water was starting to rise, flooding the house. About 30 minutes later, she lost all contact with her parents. It was only at noon, when she received a call from a relative saying that her parents were safe, that she breathed a sigh of relief.

“That was a terrible time. I just wanted to give up everything and go back to my parents. But because of the encouragement of the coaching staff and the expectations that my parents had for me, I had to overcome everything to try to practice. The only way left was to win a Gold Medal to repay the love and trust that everyone had given me,” Kha Thanh Truc confided.

Athlete Kha Thanh Truc (number 5) was commented by the Coaching Board as someone with high perseverance and determination in training. Photo: NVCC

And then, her wish came true when in the 200m race for women, Kha Thanh Truc finished first with a time of 24.05 seconds, winning the overall Gold Medal. This is the first Gold Medal in the 200m race for women that Nghe An athletics has won at domestic tournaments. It is even more special when the winner of that medal is an ethnic minority girl, born and raised in a mountainous area with many hardships, difficulties and prejudices against women. So what great motivation has helped her overcome all of that to achieve such admirable achievements for the athletics of her home province? The answer can only be passion and determination to pursue that passion.

Journey beyond limits

Kha Thanh Truc is the first and only girl up to now in Ta Ca commune who is associated with a sports career. Here, people are familiar with the image of Thai women sitting at the loom and taking care of their husbands and children, but Truc is an exception that makes people start to change their thinking about the role of women. That difference was shown from the time she was a child, when she showed a special love for long jump, sprinting and games that require strong movements.

Kha Thanh Truc with her teammates and coaches who have guided her during the past time. Photo: NVCC

In physical education classes at school, I always achieved impressive scores, even surpassing many male students in some subjects. This outstanding performance made the physical education teacher very impressed and selected me to be on the team representing Muong Xen Town Secondary School to compete in the Phu Dong Sports Festival at the district level in 2015. At this competition, I won two Gold Medals in the 100m women's athletics and long jump. After that, I continued to represent the students of my district to participate in the Phu Dong Sports Festival at the provincial level and continued to win the Gold Medal in the 100m women's athletics.

Kha Thanh Truc on the podium receiving the Gold Medal in the women's 200m race at the 9th National Sports Festival in 2022. Photo: NVCC

After that series of impressive achievements, she caught the attention of the coaches and was recruited to join the provincial women's athletics team. In the days that followed, although she had to leave her family and relatives to go to Vinh city to practice, Kha Thanh Truc showed herself to be a person with strong will and determination to conquer the strict requirements of this sport.

Head of the Athletics Department Ha Thi Kim Anh - one of the people who directly trained Kha Thanh Truc shared: Finding talented athletes is difficult, but convincing them to join athletics is even more difficult. They refuse because the training in this sport is too harsh, draining their energy. Many students, after training at the Center, still quit halfway to find less strenuous jobs with better income. But Kha Thanh Truc is one of the few athletes who are diligent and diligent in training to the end. In addition to innate qualities, that is an important factor that helps her achieve impressive achievements like the past.

Mr. Kha Van Bun - Kha Thanh Truc's father was awarded a Certificate of Merit by the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee for "Having outstanding achievements, bravely saving people and property of the people" during the flash flood in Ky Son. Photo: NVCC

When asked what motivated her to persevere in training for such a long period of time, Truc confided: “It is true that track and field exercises are quite boring and tiring when having to repeat them every day with great frequency. However, every time I run better than yesterday, or improve a few indicators, I can dispel the fatigue. Sometimes just a small step forward, an improvement in performance can make the whole day truly meaningful. The feeling in training is like overcoming your own limits every day.”

That hard training helped Kha Thanh Truc and her teammates win a "double Gold Medal" in the relay race at the 2020 National Youth Athletics Championship.

Now, Kha Thanh Truc is training hard to participate in the 32nd SEA Games to be held in Cambodia in May 2023. Although in the world arena, many challenges still await this young athlete ahead, but after what she has achieved, we have the right to hope for an impressive achievement at this sports festival.