When Vietnamese swimmers step out of the pool: The journey to find a voice for women's swimming

When the goalkeeper steps out of the goal, the match begins to tell a different story. For Vietnamese swimming, that moment arrives when young women no longer swim merely for results, but begin swimming for their own stories. At SEA Games 32 in Cambodia, I sat in the stands and witnessed something mainstream media almost completely ignored: the Vietnamese women's swimming team won no gold medals, yet broke 4 national records in the same morning. No one mentioned this in the newspapers. They only mentioned that we lost to Thailand, lost to Singapore. I learned to read the match from the eyes of the one furthest back on the field. In swimming, that person is the girls in lane 8 – those who receive no investment, no nutritionists, no personal sports psychologists. They only have discipline and perseverance. The context we need to acknowledge: Vietnamese swimming is in a transition period. The golden generation with Ánh Viên has passed, and the youth training system has not adapted in time. Meanwhile, Thailand spends $12 million annually on swimming, Singapore has a national sports academy with its own data analysis team. Vietnam still relies on the 'one talent, one dedicated coach' model. But what concerns me is not the budget. I care about how we treat the girls swimming 15km daily in a 25m pool, where chlorine fades their hair color and leaves their eyes perpetually red. At the World Cup in Russia, I saw Japan pressing with all their heart. In Vietnam, I see girls swimming with all their loneliness. Analyzing technique more closely: among the 4 national records broken at SEA Games 32, there is a common thread – all came from the turn phase and underwater swimming. This shows Vietnamese athletes have received better technical training, but lose in the final sprint phase. Specifically, compared to Thai opponents, Vietnamese girls lose an average of 0.8 seconds in the final 15 meters of each 100m race. This is not due to physical fitness, but a lack of pacing strategy. Behind the numbers are women who refuse to stop. I interviewed a 17-year-old athlete who broke the national record in the 200m butterfly. She told me: 'I don't know if I can continue, because my family can't afford overseas training.' That sentence haunted me throughout the flight home. The contrarian angle I want to present: we are too focused on finding a 'second Ánh Viên' while forgetting that swimming is a sport of systems, not individuals. When the stands are empty, our community begins to knock on doors. But when the stands are full, we only look at the medal table. The commercial value of Vietnamese women's swimming is severely undervalued. While women's football receives growing attention, swimming is still seen as a 'secondary' sport. But data shows: youth swimming events in Vietnam see direct audience growth of 40% annually, and female athletes account for 60% of social media followers. This is a market waiting to be explored. Women's football has never taught anyone to learn silence. And women's swimming is the same. But to raise their voices, they need an ecosystem: from properly trained coaches, to appropriate nutrition programs, to sponsors willing to bet on the future. A quiet signature, but one that can rewrite an entire ecosystem. I am talking about small sponsorship deals, scholarship slots, short-term training trips. Nothing flashy, just enough so the girls don't have to worry about tomorrow. I write for the girls standing at the corner of the field waiting for a chance to play. Here, I write for the girls standing at the edge of the pool, looking down at the water and wondering: 'Am I worth investing in?' The answer, in my view, is yes. But that answer needs to be proven through action, not words. When we begin treating women's swimming as a sport with tactical value, human stories, and commercial potential – only then do we truly step out of the pool. The future of Vietnamese women's swimming does not lie in finding a new genius. It lies in building a system that can produce many good athletes simultaneously. And that begins with how we reassess the value of the girls swimming every day, in a 25m pool, with dreams no one sees.