VietNamNet Bridge – High jumper Pham Thi Diem, the 2011 Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) gold medal winner, won a gold medal at the International Taiwan Athletics Tournament after passing a 1m91 crossbar.

This achievement opens a golden hope for Diem at the 2013 SEA Games later this year in Myanmar because so far, she has been considered the second high jumper in the national team, after famous athlete Duong Thi Viet Anh.

Diem herself had never exceeded the 1m90 crossbar. Her highest record was 1.87m at the 2011 SEA Games, 3cm less than the gold medal of Duong Thi Viet Anh. The website of the Asian Athletics Federation also highlighted this achievement as a bright spot in the first day of the international athletics tournament in Taiwan.

In addition to the excellent performance of Diem, Vietnam also won three more gold medals in the women’s triple jump (Tran Hue Hoa, 13.53 m), the women’s 400 m running (Nguyen Thi Oanh, 54 seconds 96), the men’s 1,000m running (Duong Van Thai 3 minutes 53 seconds 83).

The achievements of the three gold medal winners in Taiwan are down compared with their performance in the SEA Games and their own performance.

In the women's 400m running, Nguyen Thi Thuy hit the finish only after Nguyen Thi Oanh to take the silver medal (55. 48 seconds), 1.21 second less than Thuy’s record at the 2011 SEA Games.

Pham Tien San also won a silver medal for the men’s 3.000 m hurdles (9 minutes 19 seconds 64) and Vu Thi Men won a bronze medal for the women's triple jump with 13.15.

The competition in Taiwan attracts many quality athletes from 13 countries and territories, including the Southeast Asian countries of Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam.

The Vietnam team will compete in the women's long jump, the women’s 400m hurdles, the men’s 400m hurdles and the men’s 800m race.

Nguyen Nam