Paris 2024 Paralympic Games: Cambodian Van Vun determined to shine the colours of the Kingdom

The only Cambodian para-athlete to take part in the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris says he is determined to “give everything to bring honour and pride to his country”.

Van Vun underlined this commitment at a press conference on Monday at the Cambodian National Paralympic Committee in Phnom Penh

Van Vun will compete in the 100m wheelchair race at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games on September 4. Yi Veasna, Secretary General of the Cambodian National Paralympic Committee, says he has great confidence in Van Vun, ‘who has trained very hard for the competition’. The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games will officially open on 28 August and close on 8 September 2024.

Determination

Born in the Saang district of Kandal province, Vun contracted polio and became paralysed in both legs at the age of three. As the eldest child in a farming family, he faced many difficulties. Because the family could not afford to buy a wheelchair, Vun was unable to continue his schooling and dropped out in the fifth year.

“Because I am disabled, I was often discriminated against and looked down upon by other villagers. This made me deeply unhappy”, he explains.

Vun's luck changed in 2006 when, at the age of 20, a Japanese NGO offered him a place on a training course to repair radio and television sets. That same year, he was introduced to wheelchair racing by an Australian NGO. This was the first step on his sporting journey.

After graduating in 2008, the young man opened a repair business in his home village of Prek Ta Prak. Two years later, when his business wasn't going as planned, he was invited to train in Australia for a month. He accepted the invitation and never looked back.

In addition to this overseas training experience, Vun was also offered a racing chair and was asked to join the Paralympic Federation and represent Cambodia at regional and international sporting events.

Sports career

“Disabled people must not give up hope or become discouraged. We must persevere and study hard. We should never be ignored,” he says.

Determined, Vun surprised everyone at his first international event, winning silver medals in the men's T53 100m and 200m events at the 2011 Para ASEAN Games in Surakarta, on the Indonesian island of Java.

Two years later, he will achieve the greatest success of his sporting career. Vun made a splash again in 2013, when he won all three individual events at the Myanmar Games, taking gold in the men's T53 100m, 200m and 400m events.

His sporting success - and the prizes he won - enabled him to buy a house, where he currently lives with his wife and two children.

Vun also took part in the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2022 Paralympic Games, as well as the Asian Paralympic Games, held in South Korea in 2014 and Indonesia in 2018.