Speaking to DTiNews, Vu Thi Huong, who was known by title “Vietnam’s Queen of Speed” and is now living in Australia, said that what she had written on her Facebook is true.
Vietnam’s Queen of Speed Vu Thi Huong.
According to Huong, several officials from the Vietnamese General Department of Sports and Physical Training promised to give her bonuses for what she achieved at SEA Games and other sports competitions. However, until now, they have only remained promises.
The former athlete who retired in 2015 said sometimes she heard about the promises made by officials from other people or newspapers.
“I feel quite sad and disappointed at what you have promised to me. Since then, I don't want to be promised anything else as I’ve lost my confidence in promises,” Huong said, adding that the promised bonuses would have been enough for her family to live for a year or more.
She thought that officials and donors should keep their promises to athletes that won gold medals at the SEA Games.
Meanwhile, another athlete Pham Kim Ngan recounted a similar story on her Facebook. At the Asian Beach Games held in Danang City last year, some department officials promised to provide athletes who won medals with financial sponsorship for two years. But, later, they said that the games at the competition were not in the list of those eligible for support.
Regarding this, former Head of the National Sports Administration Nguyen Hong Minh said that Huong needed to clearly mention the names of officials who made the promises to her to avoid negative publicity about the country’s sports and physical training sector.
According to Minh, sports and physical training officials do not make such promises. At that time when he still worked, bonuses for athletes were clearly publicised. The department always signed contracts with donors who wanted to offer bonuses to outstanding athletes.
Minh said that the department’s current bonuses for SEA Games athletes were quite high compared to those in the past. Gold medal winners are given VND45 million (around USD2,000) from the department, meanwhile, the figure for silver and bronze medals is VND29 million and VND23 million. Athletes also receive other bonuses from other sources. For example, swimmer Nguyen Thi Anh Vien received roughly VND1 billion for winning eight gold medals at the 29th SEA Games.
