Vietnam reaps medal success

Australian coach Joe Donnelly started working with the Vietnamese women’s rowing team in 2009 and this culminated in the team competing at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China. The team came away with two silver medals – the first rowing medals for Vietnam at the Asian Games.

The boon continued at the SEA Games and there is now the momentum to aim for Olympic qualification at next year’s Asian Qualification Regatta. “We hope to qualify for the men’s and women’s lightweight double scull and the men’s and women’s single sculls,” says Donnelly.

Donnelly, a former Australian national team coxswain and club rowing coach, came to coaching in Vietnam after looking into where people rowed on one of his annual holidays.

“I was able to meet Mr Nguyen Van Thang who is a member of the Vietnam Olympic Committee, head coach of the National Canoeing Team and the Manager of Hanoi Rowing and Canoeing Club,” says Donnelly. “He asked me to have a look at the rowers and over the few days I visited we built up a good relationship to the extent that I think he believed that I knew what I was talking about in relation to rowing.”

After Donnelly’s success at the Asian Games he brought a group of rowers to Australia for a six-week period of intensive training. The group went on to be successful at the Asian Championships in Singapore, winning a number of gold and silver medals.

Donnelly coaches in Hanoi, Vietnam’s capital city, with athletes coming from throughout the country. They are full-time athletes and because of limited funding they survive on restricted diets rowing in second-hand boats from China which have to be stored outside. There are also a limited number of older rowing machines – only two have monitors.

The athletes row on the West Lakes, a freshwater lake in the heart of Hanoi, which Donnelly describes as a great facility: 4km long and about 3/4km wide. They come from a variety of sporting backgrounds and are aged predominantly in their 20s. Donnelly describes them as “lightweight athletes with good potential.”

“None of the rowers speak English, so all of the coaching takes place through a third party which is part of the challenge and the enjoyment of the training,” says Donnelly. “All of the athletes are extremely poor, but this is one of the reasons that make them good rowers, as they see the benefits that they can achieve through rowing success.”

Already the athletes that won gold medals at the SEA Games have reaped the benefits. All rowers that won medals received financial rewards. “Rowing success is a great thing for them (financially),” says Donnelly.

In preparation for Olympic qualification Donnelly is now planning another training camp to Australia. The trip is scheduled for February-March 2012 with the team planning to compete in the New South Wales Championships and the Sydney Rowing Club regatta.

Donnelly is asking for financial assistance to help pay for food and accommodation. For more information please contact him here.