• Swimmers claim victories at US tourneys

Although Phuoc reached the Olympic B Standard after winning a gold medal in the men’s 100m butterfly at the 2011 Malaysia Open Swimming Tournament, his 53.56-sec finish was not convincing enough compared to the other Asian competitors.

Meanwhile, female swimmer Nguyen Thi Anh Vien is one of the five Southeast Asian athletes who earned a place on the FINA list for the Summer Games, thanks to her outstanding 2min13.84sec triumph in the 200m women’s backstroke at the Southeast Asian Swimming Championships last June.

The four other athletes from the region going to the London Games include A Standard Joseph Schooling and B Standard Li Tao from Singapore, Indonesia’s Sudatarwa I Gede and Thailand’s Ketin Nuttapong, both of whom have met B Standard.

The Vietnam Olympics Committee (VOC) previously registered Phuoc and Vien for two Olympics wildcards, but Vien was rejected for not attending the World Championships.

According to FINA regulations, each country can send its athletes to the Olympics only if they earn an official berth or a wildcard position therefore, Vietnam had to select one of its two best swimmers.

In the end, Vien was chosen as her times are very close to the A Standard.