The Vietnamese swimmer, Nguyen Thi Anh Vien, is the first Vietnamese to be ranked in the world's top 10 best swimmers by the international governing body of five water sports-FINA.

Swimmer Anh Vien

FINA, or the Fédération Internationale de Natation, is the world governing body for the five aquatic disciplines of swimming, diving, water polo, synchronised swimming and open water swimming. In its recently-released swimming rankings, Anh Vien was the fourth Asian athlete named, after one athlete from Japan and two from China.

In 2014, VND4 billion (USD190,000) was spent on Vien's long-term training in the US. Several early achievements this year have helped to put her name on the world-ranking list.

At the Orlando Grand Prix, Vien ranked second at the women’s mix 400m for 4 minutes and 41.68 seconds. With this time, Vien broke her personal record by 5 seconds, made at Nay Pyi Taw, Malaysia.

At the Florida Championship, Vien won four gold and two silver medals. This success brought her into top 12 outstanding young athletes in the US between the ages of 11 and 18. The organisers also voted her as best female athlete in the competition.

Her goal for this year is to win the gold medals at the Asian Games in South Korea. Experts give Vien a good chance of achieving this goal if she keeps up with the performance record she has set so far.