First Vietnamese athlete wins ticket to Paris Olympic Games 2024
VOV.VN - Cyclist Nguyen Thi That (Vietnam) finished first in the women’s 109 km long-distance road race of the Asian Cycling Championships that took place in Rayong, Thailand, on June 12.
Supported by her teammates throughout the race, That made a perfect sprint past Chinese opponent Sun Jiajun and Southeast Asian opponent Jutatip Maneephan of Thailand to finish first.
The victory sent her to the 23th Olympic Summer Games in Paris, France, next year, and she became the first Vietnamese athlete to qualify for the global sporting event.
Nguyen Thi That started competing for the long-distance race at the An Giang Television Cup in 2010. She won the bronze medal at the 2013 SEA Games - her first major international tournament.
A year later, she won the ASIAD silver medal in the Republic of Korea in 2024, and then five consecutive SEA Games gold medals in 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2023.
She took golds in the Asian Cycling Championships in 2018, 2022 and 2023.
In 2019, That joined the Belgian racing team Lotto-Soudal Ladies, becoming the first Vietnamese cyclist to compete for a European team.
That is currently the best cyclist in Vietnam, and is still hunting for more titles.