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23-year-old Pham Phouc Hung is known as Hot Boy in his country.

Having posted a photo of, and given an honorable mention to, British Olympian Liam Tancock in my last XXX Games post for no better reason than his name, it seemed like a great idea to continue in that vein. Chinese trampolinist Dong Dong certainly qualifies for the next athlete to be profiled – and he’s hot enough that I’m sure I’ll devote a post to him in the future – but then I ran across Vietnamese Gymnast and Olympic hopeful Pham Phouc Hung who not only scores a 10 for his name, but wins gold for being such a cute little hottie too. An adorable little bundle of muscles, it’s no surprise he’s called ‘hot boy’ in his home country.

Hung won a spot in the Men’s Gymnastics All Around competition for the London Games thanks to his performance at the recent International Federation of Gymnastics (FIG) Championships, an Olympics Test Event, held in London at the beginning of the year. As the second qualifying contest for a spot at the Olympics, the competition provided berths for the 27 spots that were still up for grabs by male gymnasts. Securing the 21st place, the 23-year-old hunk from Vietnam narrowly made the cut after having been disqualified during his performance in the preliminaries of the six individual events.

Hung shows off his perfect form on the pommel horse, one of his best events.

Hung’s performance in the men’s all-around event landed him in the 43rd spot, right in the middle of the pack of the 98 competing gymnasts. His position was automatically upgraded to a ticket-winning place due to regulations that allow only one athlete per nation to qualify for the Olympic Games in each gymnastics category. Hung is the sixth Vietnamese athlete to earn a ticket to London next July. He’ll join gymnast Phan Thi Ha Thanh, taekwondo artists Le Huynh Chau and Chu Hoang Dieu Linh, badminton player Nguyen Tien Minh and judo martial artist Van Ngoc Tu in representing his country.

Hung won his opportunity to compete at January’s Olympic Test Event with his fourth place finish, a personal best, on the parallel bars at the 2010 World Cup Championship. It was that apparatus that he was expected to use for his successful Olympic bid, but failed to qualify for the finals. “This has happened at tournaments in the Netherlands, Japan and England, and my performances were not good,” said Hung. “I was too nervous due to a lack of international experience.” His qualifying performance in the all-around competition instead came as a complete surprise.

Hung’s muscles pop on the still rings.

The all-around final competition comes after team finals at each meet. 24 gymnasts, those whose combined scores were the highest during the preliminary round, compete in groups of six on all six of the apparatuses: The Floor Exercise, Pommel Horse, Still Rings, Vault, Parallel Bars, and High Bar. Hung’s best events are the high bar and parallel bars where he’s won silver and gold medals at international competitions in the past. Competition in the parallel bars provided Hung his first gold medal in 2002.

The native Hanoian won plaudits from Chinese gymnastic experts as a 1st grade pupil at the Hoang Dieu primary school in 1992. After a good deal of effort to convince his parents to allow him to practice and become a professional gymnast, at the age of nine he began his training in China in 1998. Hung remembers being nervous, anxious, and excited to be one of the first Vietnamese gymnasts to be trained in China. “My first feeling was being cold, very cold,” he says of his early days there. “But then when it became warmer, my homesickness too was over,” he says.

It’d be nice if Hung upgraded this shot to a shirtless one. But then cute works almost as well as sexy.

After nearly 10 years of practicing in China, Phuoc Hung returned home and won a gold medal at a national sports festival in 2002. At the 22nd SEA Games held in Hanoi in 2003, he pocketed his first gold medal, taking the top spot in the individual parallel bars event. But it was his first win at the national festival that is still the most memorable to him. “In 2002 I won two gold medals,” He says. “Compared to international competitions that contest was small but when the games are tiny everyone is proud and smiling happily.”

After four years of competing as a professional, in 2006 after participating at the 23rd SEA Games and winning two gold medals at the National University Sports Championships, Hung had to stop competing after he was diagnosed with bone tuberculosis which had eroded two discs in his back quickly causing him to take on the grotesque form of a hunchback. Retirement from the sport seemed to be his only future.

Hung won his ticket to the recent Olympic Test Event thanks to his fourth place finish on the parallel bars at the 2010 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships.

Hung says prior to his diagnosis the pain in his back made it difficult to sleep. “But I did not know I was very sick so I tried to practice and compete normally,” he says. At the national sports conference that year, when trying to compete on the parallel bars he could not finish his event. “I was taken to the doctor who confirmed my diagnosis and that the damage was already at dangerous levels,” he recalls.

After undergoing intensive treatment Hung returned to China to rebuild his strength and prowess in the sport. “ I was scared, afraid I would have to stop my career,” he says about his illness. “But thanks to my coaches and the encouragement from my teammates I have been able to overcome my difficulties.”

A mere year later, in 2007, Hung returned to competition and won gold medals in the high bar and parallel bars at the 24th SEA Games.

The diminutive hunk is a winner outside of the arena too.

Though still in therapy, Hung’s career has steadily progressed as he has become a known competitor in the international arena. At the 2009 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Portugal he finished 7th in the individual all-around event and fourth on the parallel bars. At the 2010 World Artistics Gymnastics Championships in Tokyo, Hung was the highest-placed Southeast Asian gymnast at the 73 spot while leading his SEA rivals in floor exercise, still rings, parallel bar, and the high bar competitions.

Phuoc Hung and his teammates have begun dominating gymnastics at the SEA Games. At the 26th SEA Games in Indonesia last year his medal count was outstanding. He won silver in the men’s all-around individual event, tied for gold with Indonesia’s Muhammad Try Saputra in the high bar, took home the silver for his performance in still rings, and lost out of adding another gold to his collection by losing to his teammate Nguyen Ha Thanh in the parallel bars event.

Hung was the silver medal winner on rings at the 26th SEA Games.

The 5’ 3”, the 121 lb. cutie enjoys photography, surfing, and singing in his limited spare time. A popular star in his home country, with his boyish good looks and envious physique it’s no wonder he’s known by the nickname Hot Boy. His popularity in Vietnam has reached new heights with his recent Olympic qualification, the second ticket to London for Vietnam.

Currently suffering from a knee injury and an herniated disc for which he receives daily physiotherapy, Hung is back in China training for the Olympics in July. His hopes are high for the Games, but he has drawn a tough group for the preliminary round at the XXX Olympiad. Hung will compete against athletes from Kazakhstan, Portugal, Belarus and Tunisia, as well as Bulgaria’s Iordan Iovtchev who is one of the most experienced Olympians set to participate at the Games, having won a silver on the rings and a bronze in the floor category in Athens in 2004.

Even in casual wear Hung’s muscular build takes center stage.

[‘The XXX Games’ are a series of posts about hot Olympians, gay competitors – both present and past – and general articles about the 2012 London Olympics of interest to gay men. So, yeah, lots of hot male eye candy. Click the XXX Games graphic below for additional news, stories, and pictures.]

The XXX Games of the Olympiad