Trần Hiếu Ngân

In this Vietnamese name, the surname is Tran. In accordance with Vietnamese custom, this person should be referred to by the given name, Ngan.

Trần Hiếu Ngân

Medal record
Women's taekwondo
Representing Vietnam
Olympic Games
	2000 Sydney	57 kg
Asian Games
	1998 Bangkok	Bantamweight
Asian Championships
	1998 Ho Chi Minh	Featherweight
	1996 Melbourne	Featherweight

Trần Hiếu Ngân (born June 26, 1974 in Tuy Hòa, Phú Yên) is a Vietnamese Taekwondo athlete who competed in the Women's 49-57 kg weight class at the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics, where she won the silver medal. She was the first Vietnamese athlete to win a medal at the Olympic Games.

Early Life

Trần Hiếu Ngân was born on June 26, 1974, in the coastal city of Tuy Hòa, Phú Yên province, as the fourth child in a family of eight siblings, with the family’s main occupation as bakers. Her father was a disciple of Shaolin kung fu and encouraged his children to learn martial arts for health, fitness and self-defense. When the Sports and Physical Education Center of the town opened its first Taekwondo class in 1987, he sent 13 year old Hiếu Ngân to learn. From that point, Hiếu Ngân’s path to Taekwondo opened up, as she achieved many accomplishments in competitions both domestically and internationally.

Career and Road to the Olympics

In 1990, at the National Championship held in Ho Chi Minh City, Ngân won the Silver Medal in the Poomsae (Forms) event. This initial success motivated her in the following years, leading to continued achievements:

• Silver Medal in the 51 kg category (1991) • Silver Medal in Poomsae (1992) • Gold Medal in the 55 kg category (1995)

These successes established Hiếu Ngân as an influential figure in Vietnamese Taekwondo, prompting her to move from Phu Yen to Ho Chi Minh City to continue her training under more experienced Coaches such as Coach Trương Ngọc Để, aiming to compete in international arenas.

From 1995 to 2000, her name was consistently listed among Vietnam’s top sports achievements:

• Gold Medal at the National Championship (1993, 1994, 1996) • Gold Medal at the 1995 SEA Games • Gold Medal at the Southeast Asian Championship (1996) • Gold Medal at the Asian Championship (1998) • Bronze Medal at the 1998 Asian Games • 1st Place at the Asian Qualifiers for the 2000 Sydney Olympics (1999)

On the afternoon of September 28, 2000, at the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics, Trần Hiếu Ngân made history for Vietnamese sports by winning the first Olympic Silver Medal for Vietnam. After winning Hiếu Ngân decided to retire from competition and became the treasurer of the Ho Chi Minh City Martial Arts Training Center while also serving as a coach for the youth team of Ho Chi Minh City. She married and had a daughter in 2002.

Awards and Honors

In addition to the medals and rankings achieved, Hiếu Ngân received numerous certificates of merit from:

• The People’s Committee of Phu Yen Province • The Vietnam Sports and Physical Education Committee • The Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union • The Vietnam Young Talent Support Fund

In 2000, she was awarded the Second-Class Labor Order by the President of Vietnam Trần Đức Lương.

External links

• Trần Hiếu Ngân at TaekwondoData.com
• Trần Hiếu Ngân at Olympedia
• Trần Hiếu Ngân at TaekwondoData.com
• Trần Hiếu Ngân at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)