The Silent Numbers: The Journey of Vietnamese Female Track and Field Athletes

On August 12, 2026, I sat in a small café in Nairobi, opened my laptop, and looked at the data table a young colleague in Vietnam had just sent me. Those numbers weren't world records or Olympic achievements. They were a list of 47 female track and field athletes from Vietnam who had participated in international competitions over the past 10 years but had never received a single sponsorship contract. 47 people, 47 stories, and 47 times forgotten. As a 61-year-old female sports journalist, I have witnessed too many prejudices over my 45-year career. But one thing gnaws at me most: in Vietnam, those silent female runners are still running, and no one bothers to count their steps.

Hook – One number, a thousand lives

Let me start with a number: 23. Over the past five years, Vietnamese female track and field athletes have broken 23 national records in events from 800m to the marathon. Yet only 3% of all sports articles on Vietnamese websites in the same period mentioned them. 3% – a number that speaks volumes, but no one listens. This isn't because they aren't good enough. It's because the way we perceive value in sports is distorted. When numbers learn to tell names, the entire field must listen. And I, with my pen and Excel spreadsheet, will name them.

Context – The backdrop of oblivion

I was born in Vietnam, grew up in the subsidy era, where women's sports were once a luxury. In 2026, when I started writing for Runner's World, I realized that even in the U.S., female athletes had to fight for recognition. But in Vietnam, that fight is fiercer. The traditional sports training system prioritizes men because they bring home Olympic gold medals. Women must fend for themselves, lacking nutrition, equipment, and media attention. When I tracked national athletics competitions through data from the Vietnam Athletics Federation, I saw a different truth: female athletes run faster and longer, yet they receive less – less money, less advertising, less opportunity.

Core – Competition details and breakthroughs

Based on my experience following competitions, I want to highlight three names: Nguyễn Thị Lan (800m), Trần Thị Mai (marathon), and Lê Thanh Huyền (3000m steeplechase). I have concrete data: Nguyễn Thị Lan ran 800m in 2 minutes 03.45 seconds at the 2026 SEA Games, just 0.3 seconds short of the national record. But she has no sponsor and trains on dirt roads in her hometown of Hải Dương. Trần Thị Mai, a marathon runner with a PB of 2 hours 38 minutes, won a bronze medal at the 2026 Asian Championships. She is among the rare Vietnamese athletes with the region's highest endurance indicators, based on heart rate and VO2max analysis from training data. Lê Thanh Huyền broke the national 3000m steeplechase record in 2026 but was not called up to the Olympic team due to 'lack of international experience.' I checked: she was only 0.5 seconds short of the Olympic B standard, but she was not sent to any international meet to earn points.

When I write about them, I don't rely on emotion alone. I use numbers. I analyze every split, every running pace, every expense. The medical support for these female athletes is virtually nonexistent: according to my survey, 80% of Vietnamese female track and field athletes do not receive regular health check-ups. That's a brutal truth, but numbers don't lie.

Contrarian – A counterintuitive perspective

Some will say: 'Women's sports aren't attractive, they don't make money, so nobody invests.' I think that's a mindset trap. In fact, the lack of investment robs Vietnamese female athletes of the chance to develop and create commercial value. Look at Kenya: female rural runners without proper shoes, when invested in, become legends. In Vietnam, I see a paradox: we expect female athletes to win medals first before getting sponsorship, while male athletes receive contracts based solely on potential. This is a systemic injustice. Their competitive value is undervalued from the start. But I believe that if a sponsor dares to look at data and stories, they will see an untapped market.

Takeaway – Change is coming

I am 61 years old, and I don't have much time left to wait. But I see positive signals. A few young female athletes are beginning to get noticed through social media articles. The new generation of journalists, both men and women, are using data to tell stories, just as I did with Mercy Achieng in Kenya in 2026. Change doesn't come from shouting slogans but from each number that learns to tell a name. When I write this article, I hope that one day a little girl in Hải Dương or Bến Tre will open her phone and see her name in an article, knowing that someone has counted every step she took. That's why I'm still here, still writing, still counting.