Open Letter from Joe Donnelly 

As some of you may you know, we have been preparing for Olympic qualification for the past 18 months, developing the team from a mediocre rowing  nation into a well organised efficient rowing unit that is now competing well above its weight, from both a physical, financial and logistical point of view. 

Success was achieved at the Asian Games in November 2010 and more recently, we topped the medal tally at the South East Asian Games in November 2011.  Plans were in place to compete in the 4 Olympic Qualification events, being the Men’s and Women’s Lightweight Double Sculls and the Men’s and Women’s Heavyweight Single Sculls.  I believed that we had good chances in most events and plans were in place to achieve the best outcomes.  Unfortunately, after topping the medal tally at the SEA Games in November, our number one chance - being the Heavyweight Women’s Single Scull was sunk, when the athlete advised the administration that she was pregnant and would not be able to compete in the Olympic Qualifying Regatta.   

As you know, the team then came to Australia for 5 weeks in February and I put together a very good Lightweight Men’s Double Scull that would have been our second best chance for qualification.  Unfortunately, two of the boys (one of whom was in the Double Scull) ran away from the team and failed to return to Vietnam.  This in turn destroyed our second best opportunity for Olympic qualification. We were unable to find a suitable partner for the remaining rower and had to cancel the Vietnam entry from this event.   

Unperturbed by these setbacks, we went to Korea with men and women lightweight scullers for the Men’s and Women’s Heavyweight events and the Women’s Lightweight Double Scull that had been preparing for the past 6 months.  The two lightweight double scullers performed magnificently in the heavyweight events, with the female finishing 9^th overall and the male 8^th out of fields of 20 plus rowers.  These results would put both of these scullers at the top end of lightweight sculling in Asia, based at their performances at this Regatta.   

The Women’s Lightweight Double Scull began their assault for qualification in Sydney at the NSW State Championships where they finished 20 seconds behind the Korean Lightweight Double Scull that won the event.  Unfortunately, the Vietnam double scull failed to qualify for the final in Sydney and the goal of beating Korea looked almost impossible, meaning that we were competing for two spots in order to gain Olympic qualification in Korea.  

On the first day of the heats in Korea the weather was not good and a strong head winds prevailed.  The Vietnam double scull was slow out of the blocks and failed to qualify directly to the final being ranked 7^th at the end of the first days competition. A better performance was asked for in the repechage, where the first two places would qualify for the A Final.  We raced bow ball to bow ball for the last 300 metres, being pipped by Iran by point one of a second to finish 2^nd and qualify for the A Final. 

 At this point in the program, Vietnam was ranked No. 6 out of the finalists and the possibility of Olympic qualification was not looking good.  As coach, I drew on my experience from the past and advised the rowers that unless we made changes, qualification was virtually impossible.  As a result, we put together a plan and made a gearing change, as well as providing some motivational speech therapy which when converted to Vietnamese must have been pretty good.  The crew raced to the front as instructed, shaking off India and Iran who had previously beaten Vietnam and racing neck to neck at the front of the field with Korea.  The race continued in this format to the 1750 metre mark where Japan moved through to the front, Korea inched ahead slightly, but Vietnam held off the fast finishing Uzbekistan crew that were the favourite crew to take the 3^rd place for Olympic qualification. 

The final result was Japan 1^st, two seconds ahead of Korea who finished one second ahead of Vietnam, which gained the 3^rd Olympic qualifying position.  Uzbekistan were .6 of a second behind Vietnam, which shows just how close the opposition were, but at the same time how tough and committed our Vietnamese champions are.  The gap of 20 seconds between Korea and Vietnam in Sydney had now been reduced to 1 second and was a result that Olympic dreams are built on.  In fact, I have had a call from Foxtel to make a movie on the double scull to be shown during the Olympics. 

I hope that you as a supporter of the team appreciate what I have written, as without your support and financial backing, that .6 of a second margin certainly could not have been achieved.  I hope you enjoy watching the Double Scull race at the Olympics and that you will feel part of the team where the goal will be in the first instance to beat Korea and Japan and then to knock over any other tall poppies that think Vietnam will be easy beats. 

The plan for Vietnam rowing for the future is to purchase an VIII, which will cost $18,000 to have it delivered to Hanoi.  At the moment, there are no coxed boats in Vietnam and I believe that we need to row the VIII in the 2014 Asian Games to let the world know that Vietnam is becoming a rowing power in Asian and in the long term on the world stage.  Financial support is still required to get this boat to Hanoi, so any assistance that could be given would be greatly appreciated. 

We are also planning to bring the team to the 2013 World Cup Regatta that will be held in Sydney in March next year and they will then compete at the 2013 World Championships in Korea.  In 2014, the Asian Games will also be held in Korea and at this competition, I hope that many of the young athletes will bring rowing success and victories to Vietnam. 

At any of these rowing events, your attendance and participation with the team would be welcomed,  as the team love meeting the Australian people that support them. 

Thank you once again for both your moral and financial support on behalf of myself and the Vietnamese Rowing Team. 

Yours faithfully 

Joe Donnelly