VietNamNet Bridge – It is unbelievable that Vietnam’s top rower Pham Thi Thao, who is competing at the London Olympics, cannot swim.

Rower Pham Thi Thao (left).

Thao, a rural girl from the northern province of Thai Binh, had nearly drowned nearly four years ago, when she just joined the Hanoi-based West Lake rowing club.

That day, Thao asked her coach’s admission to stop practicing because she was tired. She rowed her boat back to the shore alone. On the way back, her old boat was absorbed with water and gradually sunk into the water.

Thao, who could not swim, held tightly onto the boat and shouted for help in panic. Some teammates heard her scream and quickly rowed their boats to the incident site to save Thao. When the girl was fished out from water, she drank a lot of water. Thao had to quit training for a week after escaping death.

The entire team, especially coaches were shocked because they could not believe that a rower like Thao could not swim.

After the incident, the national rowing team ordered Thao to practice swimming or leave the team. Coaches permitted Thao to stop practicing with the rowing team to learn how to swim.

Thao tried her best with her own swim trainer but she could not swim. She could not even float on the water. The girl explained the fact to her coaches. Initially, the coaches decided to reject Thao from the national team but finally they kept Thao because the young girl had perfect nature of a professional rower.

Since then, Thao’s boat was always checked very carefully before each exercise. She always had to practice with other teammates.

Thao cannot swim but she is a talented rower, whose physical strength is very good. The most special thing is her arm length is 12cm longer than normal people.

Two years after escaping death, Thao became the most important rower of the national rowing team. She won many medals for the country, including the Asian gold medal, and won a card to the London Olympics.

S. Tung