Laos athletes at Olympics
Last friday, the 15th of August, Lao athlete Souksavanh Tonsacktheva was scheduled to race in heat six of the men’s 100-metre sprint at the Beijing Olympic Games. Born on the 12/08/1988, Souksavanh was age 20 when he participated in the sixth heat -of 10 heats total- prelimenaries in Bejing. The first three sprinters in each heat and the next 10 fastest sprinters in the preliminary round will advance to the second round.
Souksavanh competed against seven sprinters: Kai Hu of China, Ali Shareef of the Maldives, Abdullah Al Sooli of Oman, Tyrone Edgar of Great Britain, Darvis Patton of the United States, Ronald Pognon of France and Desislav Gunev of Bulgaria.
Out of all 10 heats, Souksavanh finished at a 78th place with his 11.51 seconds time. Quite an achievement when you regard there are little or no facilities and resources in Laos to train professionally.
Lao athlete Philaylack Sackpaseuth competed in the women’s 100m sprint last Saturday. The women’s 100m competition is divided into nine heats for the qualifying round. Philayak grabbed the 9th place in the 9th heat with a time of 13.86 seconds.
Swimmer Vilayphone Vongphachanh (born April 26, 1989) swam in heat two of the women’s 50m freestyle event. For Vilayphone, it will be her second Olympic appearance. She competed at the age of 15 in the 2004 Summer Olympics in the Women’s 50m Freestyle. Limited resources, such as Lao training facilities in a pool half the size of a standard Olympic size swimming pool, influence her results. Within those limits her achievements are great.
Vilayphone finished at an 8th place in heat 2 of the Women’s 50m Freestyle with a time of 36.57 seconds.
Swimmer Thephithak Chindavone competed thursday evening in heat two of the men’s 50m freestyle. And.. great news because he won his heat with a time of 29.31 seconds, beating Burkina-Faso, Yemen, Nigeria, Antigua and Congo. He was the only one in his heat with a time under 30 seconds. Again, considering all resources a great result. Congratulations to Thephithak Chindavone and Laos.
soo soo lao
I THINK IT GREAT! THAT WE HAVE A REPRESENTATIVE @ THE OLYMPIC GAMES.IT BEEN QUITE AN ACCOMPLISMENT FOR OUR LAOS PEOPLES TO BE IN THE BREATH WITH EVERY OTHER COUNTRY.WE HAVE COME ALONG WAY TO GET THERE..
NEED MORE SUPPORT FROM OUR GOVERMNET AND PEOPLES….