SINGAPORE, June 11 — While Joseph Schooling took his seventh and eighth gold medals yesterday at the SEA Games competitions, Vietnam’s own swimming phenomenon Nguyen Thi Anh Vien is hot on his heels to emerge as the most bemedalled swimmer in the six-day meet (June 6 to 11), nabbing her seventh gold yesterday in the women’s 400m freestyle.
Schooling — entered for nine events at the SEA Games — won the men’s 50m butterfly and 200m individual medley yesterday in Games record times (23.49s and 2.00.66 respectively) and has only the men’s 4x100m medley relay this evening left to in his target of nine golds — and all nine in record times.
Like Schooling, Nguyen can achieve the same medal haul should she triumph in her final two races, the 200m breaststroke and 100m butterfly, today.
One of the differences between the two swimmers is that the 18-year-old Vietnamese — who is competing in 12 events at the Games this year — is conversant in all four swimming strokes, while Schoolings is a powerful butterfly specialist who has only added the freestyle events for the first time to his repertoire in the biennial event.
Regional swimmers and coaches whom TODAY spoke to have differing opinions as to who their MVP (Most Valuable Player) is at the swimming SEA Games competition.
Thailand’s assistant head coach Miguel Lopez picked Nguyen.
He said: “If you look at the world’s greatest swimmers, like Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte, they clock world-class times, or near them, using different strokes. Phelps swam in the fly, free and also back events to win the most Olympic gold medals ever.
“Vietnam also has a smaller talent pool than Singapore, as well as lesser funding and resources for sports, so that also makes Vien more special.”
Indonesia’s multiple SEA Games gold medallist Glenn Victor Sutanto, who took silver behind Schooling in the 50m fly yesterday, picked Schooling as his MVP.
“Joseph is too fast, and we all need to train more to go close to him. I think it will be Joseph for me, because his swims here are close to the Olympic ‘A’ mark,” said Sutanto.
But to Singapore national swimming head coach and Olympic bronze medallist Sergio Lopez, comparisons of merit and medal counts are pointless, as he said that the two swimming starlets will now need to look ahead and focus on just a couple of events in order to excel on sport’s most prestigious stage.
“Vien is an excellent swimmer who has been improving by leaps and bounds,” Lopez told TODAY.
“I take my hat off to her for being so good in all the strokes. I know the kind of environment she is in, and the sacrifices she has made to come this far — similar to Joseph who left home at a young age.
“But at the Olympics, which I think both of them can qualify and do something great, they will need to focus on one or two events to execute the strokes at the highest level.”
In yesterday’s other swimming events, Singapore’s Roanne Ho added another gold medal to the country’s record haul, winning the 50m breaststroke in a new Games record time of 31.45s. ― Today
