Following her performances at recent swimming competitions, it is obvious that in addition to an innate talent, Tram is much braver and more experienced than her peers.

Tram’s swimming career started by chance at the age of seven when she was taken by her parents to an anti-drowning class in Ho Chi Minh City.

Thanks to a well-built body and an inborn aptitude, Tram quickly showed off her talent, which was then discovered and fostered by trainer Le Minh Ngoc.

After just one year of training, Tram swam away with all the swimming prizes at both district and city levels and was brought to the Yet Kieu Aquatic Sports Centre to develop her talent.

Tram made her international debut last June as the youngest member of the Vietnamese sports delegation to the 28th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Singapore.

In her first SEA Games competition, Tram surprised everyone by making the finals of the 50m butterfly and 50 freestyle events.

Despite failing to win a medal, Tram was highly appreciated by local experts with the possibility of becoming a second “Anh Vien” (top Vietnamese female swimmer) of Vietnam’s swimming team in the future.

Phuong Tram has made significant progress since the conclusion of the 28th SEA Games.

At the 2015 National Swimming Championships two months ago, Tram created a stir by surpassing her famous senior Nguyen Thi Anh Vien in her two favourite events - the 50m butterfly and 50m freestyle.

The HCM City-born swimmer won the 50m butterfly discipline on October 16 with a time of 27.60 seconds, breaking the old record of 27.67 seconds established by Anh Vien in 2015.

Three days later, Tram continued to surprise everyone as she overcame Anh Vien to claim the gold medal and break her own record in the 50m freestyle category (27.60 seconds) with a time of 26.37 seconds.

Most recently, Nguyen Diep Phuong Tram became the top swimmer at the 39th Southeast Asian Age Group Championships in Da Nang, Vietnam, achieving an amazing collection of nine gold medals and five new records in the 14-15 age division.

Her time of 4:59.13 in the 400m individual medley event even surpassed that of the 28th SEA Games bronze medalist, Quah Jing Wen of Singapore (4:59.52).

Since July 2015, the General Department of Sports and Physical Training has arranged training for Tram at the National Sports Training Centre in HCM City following a policy for national team athletes and a training programme designed by Anh Vien’s trainer Dang Anh Tuan.

Phuong Tram is a young talent of Vietnamese swimming thanks to her aptitude for this sport as well as diligence in training, General Secretary of the Vietnam Aquatic Sports Association Dinh Viet Hung affirmed.

He expressed his belief that Tram would be a rewarding successor to Anh Vien and become an even more accomplished swimmer in the future.