Vietnam's Athletics Star Drought: When the 2026 Golden Generation Ends, It's Time to Audit BAF's Ledger

The letter Vietnam's Olympic Committee sent for the 2026 Asian Games did not include a 31-year-old steeplechaser's name in its initial list. The letter stated that this athlete was not given a team quota. Yet three days into the competition, the hanging banners revealed that Vietnamese sports fans still hoped for a medal from her. This gap is not just a minor negligence by the organizers. It is a clear ledger entry. A country that sends its biggest star without her is actually suffering from an existential crisis of stardom. I have been cross-checking international athletics results and federation documents for many years. In Vietnam's case, what caught my eye was not their gold count at the Asian Games, but that no one kept a proper account of their stars. At the 2026 Jakarta Asian Games, Vietnam's athletics golds came from two events—Bùi Thị Thu Thảo in long jump and Quách Thị Lan in 400m hurdles. But the second gold was not won outright on the track. After Bahrain's Kemi Adekoya was caught for doping and stripped of her medal, Lan's silver was upgraded to gold. That means half of Vietnam's so-called golden era in 2026 came after a rival's sanction. Besides Lan, Nguyễn Thị Oanh won bronze in steeplechase that year. That Oanh is now 31 and not in her federation's plan. If this reality is to be accepted, the question is—did Vietnam's athletics ever stand as a system, or did it stand and then collapse? Vietnam's sports structure is essentially state-run. Participation in the Asian Games is through a delegation quota system. The decision to send an athlete is made centrally. The advantage of this model is that resources can be concentrated on one event. The disadvantage is that dependence grows on athletes who have already won medals, and investment in newcomers decreases. Vietnam's athletics has fallen exactly into this trap. After the 2026 success, the federation did not make much effort to find new talent. Rather, it tried to manage 2026 Hangzhou and 2026 Aichi-Nagoya with the old stars. In Hangzhou, Vietnam's athletics medal was only a silver, and that too came solely from Oanh in steeplechase. Quách Thị Lan, one of the key figures of the 2026 golden era, was no longer competing. Oanh alone survived, but her age was increasing. This trend shows that Vietnam's athletics is not a pyramid, but a roof standing on a few pillars. If the pillars move away one by one, the roof will collapse—and that is happening in 2026. An athlete like Oanh was not excluded because she cannot perform, but because including her would waste a quota that could be given to a young athlete. But where is that young athlete? In Vietnam's domestic circuit, no one has emerged in 400m hurdles or long jump close to Lan or Thu Thảo. Federation officials say there is a lack of young talent. But who is responsible for this lack? The answer to this question is in the federation's documents. If I ask for the approved budget statement of the Vietnam Athletics Federation, I will see what percentage is allocated to youth development and how much to administrative expenses. In 2026, after looking at the Bangladesh Athletics Federation's ledger, I found exactly this. There, administrative travel was the largest expenditure category. Is the same picture true for Vietnam? It cannot be said for sure, because I do not have Vietnam's documents. But in a country where new youth are not coming, if a large part of the allocation goes to administration, then that is not an accident, but policy. Vietnam's problem is not confined to its own house. While Southeast Asian neighbors are producing stars, Vietnam is losing stars. Thailand's Puripol Boonson is clocking times in sprinting that have touched Olympic standards. Indonesia's badminton keeps producing stars one after another. The Philippines' Carlos Yulo is a world-class star in gymnastics. This comparison is cruel for Vietnam. Because both Boonson and Yulo are in the mainstream of Olympic sports, while Vietnam's last resort was wushu or sepak takraw—which are not Olympic sports. In athletics, Vietnam's last big stars were Oanh and Lan. Lan's gold came from doping reallocation, and Oanh's best times are gone. Now the question is, can Vietnam attract its youth to athletics? A lack of stars means a lack of inspiration. In a country where children do not dream of running on the track, where will future stars come from? I have been watching sports competitions for many years. My experience says a nation's sports culture changes only when it has a visible star in front of it. Vietnam's current federation leadership is spending time with old stars instead of creating that star. This is short-term politics, not long-term development. Many will say that in a country like Vietnam, sports investment is low, so producing stars is difficult. But I do not fully agree with this argument. The amount of investment is not the real issue; the destination of investment is. In 2026, if a large part of the Vietnam Athletics Federation's budget had gone to new tracking systems, coaching, and district-level competitions, the situation today might have been different. But in reality, large budgets are often spent on central training camps where elite athletes stay. Newcomers have limited access to these camps. As a result, the same elite group continues to receive benefits year after year. In Vietnam's case, Oanh and Lan are representatives of that elite group. The federation is dependent on them because sponsorship comes in their names. The way out of this dependence is to create a sponsorship market for new stars. Thailand did that with Boonson. The Philippines did it with Yulo. Vietnam could not. Is the blame for this failure only on the federation? Partly. In a state sports structure, both the federation and the sports ministry are involved. But where a team quota system is in place, the federation's decision is final. So the blame must be taken by the federation. It is now certain that Vietnam's athletics team at the 2026 Asian Games will not only fail to win medals but will suffer from a star drought. I am not making any prediction in this article that Vietnam's athletics will turn around in 2030. Rather, my question is, what will the federation do in the next four years? If they again rely on old stars, then the 2030 athletics will be the same story. My sources say Vietnam's sports ministry is already considering a new plan for youth development. But a plan on paper is not enough; it needs financial allocation. I would want the Vietnam Athletics Federation to publish its three-year budget statement. It should include an account of how much was spent in each category. Especially how much was invested in district-level track construction, school competitions, and coaches' salaries—that needs to be known. I am making this demand from the experience of Bangladesh. After the BAF ledger was published in 2026, the same question arose there. Vietnamese journalists should do the same. Because the star drought is not a sudden event. It is an accounting error. Until the federation's ledger is opened, we will not know how much money went where. And if the ledger is not opened, what will happen is that Vietnam's athletics will continue to lose stars, and neighbors will move ahead. The 2026 golden era is now history. But the question is, who will keep the account of that history?