Tuan was presented with the State award at a ceremony in Hanoi on March 29 to honour the best sportspeople and disabled athletes of the year.
Tuan’s 290kg lift won Vietnam’s only medal at the Games and he was then selected Vietnam’s 2008 athlete of the year.
The 24-year-old weightlifter also received a cash-prize of VND100 million at the ceremony, awarded by the Dong Luc Group for his silver medal.
Other awards were presented to top athletes and coaches by Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Danh Thai.
The ceremony was organised by The Thao Vietnam (Vietnam Sports) newspaper and VinaPhone to mark the 63rd anniversary of Vietnam’s Sports Day.
Twenty-five athletes and coaches received the Labour Order, Third Class, for their contributions to sports over the last year.
Among them were Olympian weightlifter Nguyen Thi Thiet, sprinter Truong Thanh Hang and shooters Nguyen Thu Van and Hoang Xuan Vinh.
Others to receive awards were Chinese chess master Ngo Lan Huong, billiards and snooker player Duong Anh Vu, who grabbed two gold medals at the Asian Indoor Games in Macau in 2007, coaches Le Van Suc (Wrestling), Le Tung Duong (Karate) and Nguyen Xuan Hai (Pencak Silat), wheelchair athlete Nguyen Thi Thanh Thao and disabled weightlifter Dang Anh Tuyet and disabled swimmer Nguyen Quang Vuong.
The athletes of the year awards are being jointly organised by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, the Vietnam Fund for Young Talent Support and the The Thao Vietnam newspaper.