“No medal – it was very terrible for me,” said Anh Vien, who is known as the “Little Mermaid” back home in Vietnam, at the 14th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) in Hangzhou on Tuesday.

The 22-year-old swimmer had just competed in the women’s 400m individual medley and her time of 4 minutes, 37.28 seconds left her in 13th place of 30 entries and the fourth-ranked Asian behind two swimmers from Japan and one from China.

That’s a familiar feeling for Anh Vien, who dominates the SEA Games swimming competitions but is struggling to make an impact at a higher level against the world-class rivals from Japan and China at the Asian Games.

“I am 22 years old and my goal is to continue until the next Asian Games in 2022. This year I did not swim well in the Asian Games so I will be working hard, hard, hard for the next few years,” she added.

Regarding her time here in the women’s 400m IM in the short-course pool, Anh Vien said it was tough because she had just come to China from the Vietnam National Sports Games in Hanoi, where she won 12 gold medals.

“I just finished swimming in the Vietnam Games two days ago,” said Anh Vien. “Everything I feel is not good because I am so tired from the Vietnam National Games.”

After training in Jacksonville, Florida, for several years, Anh Vien is now back home in Ho Chi Minh City and has two major targets in the next couple of years.

The first is the SEA Games in the Philippines next year, followed by the Tokyo 2020 Olympics for which she hopes to achieve the A qualifying standard.

“I will swim in the SEA Games next year and I just want to enjoy my best events – the Individual Medley and backstroke.”

When asked how many gold medals she was aiming to win at the 2019 SEA Games, Anh Vien replied diplomatically: “I don’t know. I will just try my best,” before adding with a laugh, “eight?” (Ocasia.org)