HERO: Chinese swimming coach Huang Guohui (right) has trained No 1 swimmer of the country, Nguyễn Huy Hoàng (left) for the past five years. Photo danviet.vn

Swimming

HÀ NỘI — Chinese swimming coach, Huang Guohui, of the Vietnamese national swimming team died in quarantine after returning from the Tokyo Olympics.

“Coach Huang passed away on August 11. We are in isolation, so we don’t know the situation yet and we are waiting for the result of the police investigation," Trần Đức Phấn, head of the Vietnamese delegation to the Tokyo Olympics and deputy director of the Việt Nam Sport Administration, confirmed.

According to Phấn, the coach received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Huang and members of the Vietnamese delegation returned home from Japan on August 4, after completing the competition at the Tokyo Olympics. After returning to Hà Nội, the team are in isolation for 14 days at a hospital in the capital.

Phấn said the death of coach Huang is a great loss for Vietnamese swimming.

At the Tokyo Olympics 2020, the Chinese expert was the only professional coach for swimmers Nguyễn Huy Hoàng and Nguyễn Thị Ánh Viên. He rarely appeared in front of cameras, but has been with the Vietnamese swimming team for many years.

Under his guidance, Vietnamese swimmers won the 800m bronze medal and 1,500m silver medal at the Asian Games (ASIAD) 2008 alongside many gold medals at the 23rd, 26th, 29th and 30th SEA Games. At the last SEA Games in 2019 in the Philippines, Huang’s swimmers contributed a total of five gold medals.

Huang also directly trained No 1 swimmer of the country Hoàng for the past five years at the Cần Thơ National Sports Training Centre. He helped Hoàng improve and gain achievements, notably the 2018 Youth Olympic gold medal, the 2019 SEA Games gold medal and the 2018 ASIAD silver medal.

Huang brought his family to live in Việt Nam in 2015.

On his Facebook page, Hoàng posted a status with a photo of coach Huang teaching young swimmers.

"May you rest in peace. We will always be grateful and remember you forever. You will always be in my heart," said Hoàng. VNS