By Matthew Knight and Natasha Maguder, CNN
She may only be a slip of a woman, but Duong Thuy Vi’s athletic talent should not be taken lightly.
Duong Thuy Vi (CNN)
A star in the martial art of Wushu, the 21-year-old Vietnamese clinched gold at the World Championships and the Southeast Asian Games in 2013 and was crowned champion at the 17th Asian Games held in South Korea last September.
Having won numerous titles as a junior — she was a national, regional and world champion — Duong hasn’t tired of the winning feeling in her fledgling senior career.
“Each time I win and stand on the podium, I feel that I truly have won myself,” Duong told CNN’s Human to Hero series.
“When they put the gold medal on me, I feel so emotional, as if it is a dream.”
Growing up in Hanoi, Duong wasn’t particularly interested in the sport and has an overweight relative to thank for sparking her career into life.
“When I was small, I didn’t know anything about Wushu,” she said. “I only knew that martial arts could make you healthy. One of my cousins who was very fat practiced Wushu to lose weight and I asked to come with him.”
Her cousin’s interest may have waned pretty quickly — “he quit after a week — he is still fat!” she jokes — but Duong has persevered and now tucks into a rigorous daily diet of exercise, training in both the morning and afternoon six days a week, sometimes longer.
“Before important tournaments, we even practice on Sunday mornings — the programs consist of physical and technique training.”
The modern sport of Wushu started life in ancient China as a form of self defense, explains Daniel Kainan Pan, a former member of the Great Britain Wushu team.
“Traditional Wushu can be said to be the ancestor of all martial arts like Aikido, Karate, Judo — they all came from ancient Chinese martial arts,” Kainan Pan says.
“What really sets Wushu apart (from other martial arts) is that it’s more of a complete system, in the sense that in the fighting aspect there are grabs and throws but also punches and kicks — you can use anything you want.
“From a performance aspect, it’s almost comparable to gymnastics — everyone does 720 (-degree) rotations and lands in the splits.”
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