Journey to Peace Village

Viet Nam isn't a top competitor at the Olympics. There's only been two silver medals won at the Games since the country started competing in 1952. One came this week and electrified the country. Hoang Anh Tuan pulled an upset and won a silver medal in the men's 56 kilogram weightlifting competiton.
He lifted a total of 290 kilos (600 pounds) in the snatch and "clean and jerk" phases of the competition.

Vietnam doesn't put a lot of budget into international sports (except for soccer). In soccer, while they haven't made it to the Olympics, they improved mightily in the Asian cup, making it into the quarterfinal round and beating rival Thailand.

This is not to say that the Vietnamese are not sports minded. People are great at participant sports and you see many folks of all ages playing soccer, basketball, table tennis and badminton. This is reflected in the coverage of the Olympics on tv. Live coverage of the Games is broadcast all day and into the night. There is more coverage of sports that are unusual in the US--including badminton, Judo, table tennis, volleyball and weightlifting. This doesn't mean I haven't been able to keep up with some of the activities of team USA--last night I watched James Blake upset Roger Federer and I've been treated to games of the men's and women's basketball team.

All and all watching the Olympics gives me a chance to improve my Vietnamese and learn about some unusual sports.

Labels: sports, Viet Nam and the West, Vietnamese culture