Vietnamese Swimming: When Data Remains a Void, We Are Swimming in the Dark

One morning in June 2026, I stood by the 50-meter pool at the National Sports Training Center in Da Nang. The youth swimming team coach turned to me, pointing at the old stopwatch in his hand: "This is all we have. No GPS, no sensors, no technical analysis. He swims 100m freestyle in 52.3 seconds, but I don't know what he does in each 25 meters." That moment reminded me of my first lesson about GPS error in 2026, when I discovered a small discrepancy in a football player's data. I realized: Vietnamese swimming is at a stage that Vietnamese football experienced ten years ago – lacking data, lacking tools, and lacking a culture of verification. Swimming is the most quantifiable sport in the Olympic program. Every kick, every arm rotation, every breath can be measured in milliseconds and centimeters. But in Vietnam, the swimming training system still relies mainly on coaches' experience, stopwatches, and athletes' feelings. Meanwhile, leading countries like the US, Australia, and China have been using 3D motion analysis, water pressure sensors, and performance prediction models for years. This gap is not just about technology, but also about mindset: we still believe that talent and hard work are enough, while data can make a decisive difference. I spent seven months in 2026 building a "recovery index" model for V.League football, based on GPS data from 365 players. That model helped a club reduce training load by 15% and avoid injuries to key players. When I proposed applying a similar approach to swimming, I got the answer: "Swimming doesn't have as much data as football." True, but that is exactly the problem. We cannot improve what we do not measure. A swimmer who does 100m freestyle in 52 seconds could reach 51 seconds if we knew that their last 15 meters are 0.8 seconds slower than their first 15 meters. But without split data, we only see the final result and don't know what to fix. Look at the achievements of Vietnamese swimmers at the 32nd SEA Games in Cambodia in 2026. The Vietnamese swimming team won 4 gold medals, but all came from short and middle distances. In long distances like 800m and 1500m freestyle, we had no representatives in the finals. The difference is not in basic endurance, but in the ability to distribute energy – a factor that can be optimized with data. At the 2026 World Cup, I analyzed Croatia's xG and found they reached the final despite creating fewer chances than their opponents. That was not magic – it was the result of maximizing every opportunity. In swimming, the same happens when an athlete knows exactly when to accelerate, when to relax, and how to save energy for the final sprint. One reason Vietnamese swimming develops slowly is the lack of connection between training centers. Each province has its own coaching staff, each with its own methods, and there is no common data system to compare and learn. In Australia, all swimmers are put into a national database where coaches can access information about technique, performance, and injury history. This allows them to detect problems early and adjust training plans scientifically. Vietnam needs to build a similar system, starting with collecting basic data in national competitions. I remember being invited to analyze data for a swimming club in Ho Chi Minh City. They had a 16-year-old swimmer who was very good at 200m butterfly, but his results were inconsistent. When I looked at training data, I found that he always swam fast in the first 100m but was 3 seconds slower in the last 100m. This showed he lacked pacing strategy. We designed a training program with speed control exercises, and after 3 months, his time improved by 1.2 seconds. Nothing magical, just applying data to practice. But this story is rare because most clubs lack the resources to hire data analysts. A counterintuitive perspective: the lack of data can be an opportunity. When a system has no data, building a data system from scratch is much easier than changing an existing system with old data. Vietnam can learn from latecomers like Japan, which built a modern swimming training system in just 20 years by systematically applying technology and data. We don't need to copy entirely, but we need to start with small steps: equipping national team swimmers with sensors, recording data from every training session, and analyzing it regularly. I believe in numbers, but only after they pass three rounds of verification. In swimming, that means checking the accuracy of measuring devices, cross-referencing with actual competition results, and comparing with international athletes' data. Without these checks, data can lead us astray. I once saw a swimmer highly rated based on data from an uncalibrated device, leading the coach to set wrong goals. That's why I always emphasize the importance of cross-verification. The COVID-19 pandemic taught me how to measure a tournament by recovery index, not by points. In swimming, we also need to measure athletes' recovery after each training session and each competition to avoid injuries and maintain form. An athlete may swim very fast in one session, but if their heart rate and fatigue levels are not monitored, they may burn out before an important competition. Recovery data helps us adjust training plans flexibly, just as I did for the football club in 2026. Vietnamese swimming is at a crossroads. We can continue to rely on feelings and experience, or we can start building a solid data foundation. I am not saying data will replace coaches – never. Data is just a tool, but it is a powerful tool that helps us see what the naked eye cannot. A good coach combined with accurate data can create world-class athletes. Conversely, a talented coach without data is limited by what they can observe with their eyes. I have followed Vietnamese swimming for over a decade, from my early days as a reporter for Thanh Nien Bao. I have witnessed the progress of athletes like Nguyen Thi Anh Vien, who brought many SEA Games gold medals through talent and hard work. But Anh Vien is an exception, not a product of a system. To create more Anh Viens, we need a data-driven training system where every athlete is monitored and developed scientifically. The question is not whether we have enough money to invest in technology, but whether we have enough will to change our mindset. I have seen small countries like Singapore and the Philippines invest heavily in sports data and achieve remarkable results. Vietnam has great potential, but that potential will only be tapped when we start measuring, recording, and analyzing. Let's start with small things: equipping electronic stopwatches for competitions, recording lap times, and building a national database. That is the first step to bring Vietnamese swimming out of the darkness of ignorance. When I stood by the pool in Da Nang, I told the coach: "You have a talented swimmer, but you are swimming in the dark. Let me help you turn on the light." Data is that light. It does not create talent, but it shows us the path for talent to shine. Vietnamese swimming needs such lights, and I believe we can light them if we dare to start.