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Moe Thu Aung

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Moe Thu Aung
Personal information
Full nameMoe Thu Aung
National team Myanmar
Born (1981-06-10) 10 June 1981 (age 43)
Yangon, Myanmar
Height1.71 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight53 kg (117 lb)
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesFreestyle, butterfly
ClubMLC Marlins (AUS)
CoachJohn Bladon (AUS)
Medal record
Women's swimming
Representing Myanmar
Southeast Asian Games
Gold medal – first place 2001 Kuala Lumpur 50 m freestyle
Silver medal – second place 2001 Kuala Lumpur 100 m freestyle
Silver medal – second place 2001 Kuala Lumpur 100 m butterfly
Silver medal – second place 2003 Hanoi 50 m freestyle
Silver medal – second place 2003 Hanoi 100 m freestyle
Silver medal – second place 2003 Hanoi 100 m butterfly
Silver medal – second place 2005 Manila 100 m butterfly
Bronze medal – third place 2005 Manila 50 m freestyle
Bronze medal – third place 2005 Manila 100 m freestyle
Bronze medal – third place 2005 Manila 200 m freestyle

Moe Thu Aung (born 10 June 1981) is a Burmese former swimmer, who specialized in sprint freestyle and butterfly events.[1] Aung represented Myanmar at the 2000 Summer Olympics, received a total of ten medals (one gold, six silver, and three bronze) from all editions of the Southeast Asian Games since 2001, and later became a top 8 finalist in a sprint freestyle double at the 2002 Asian Games. During her sporting career, she swam and trained for the MLC School's swimming club, also known as MLC Marlins, under an Australian-based coach John Bladon.[2]

Aung competed only in the women's 50 m freestyle at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.[3] She received a ticket from FINA, under a Universality program, without meeting an entry time.[4] She participated in heat one against two other swimmers, 12-year-old Fatema Hameed Gerashi of Bahrain and Paula Barila Bolopa of Equatorial Guinea. Aung pulled away from a small field to an unexpected triumph in a new Burmese record of 26.80, finishing farther ahead of Gerashi, who was later disqualified from the race for a no false-start rule attempt, and Bolopa, who posted the event's slowest time in Olympic history (1:03.97).[5][6] Aung's surprising reward was not enough to put her through to the semifinals, as she placed thirty-ninth overall out of 74 swimmers in the prelims.[7][8]

At the 2001 Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Aung edged out Singapore's top favorite Joscelin Yeo by seven hundredths of a second (0.07) to capture the 50 m freestyle title in 26.34, adding it to two other silver medals from her hardware in the 100 m freestyle (57.61) and in the 100 m butterfly (1:01.76).[9][10]

At the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea, Aung failed to medal in any of her individual events, finishing seventh each in the 50 m freestyle (26.72) and in the 100 m freestyle (58.01).[11][12]

References

  1. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Moe Thu Aung". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  2. ^ "Marlins' Head Coach John Bladon appointed Head Coach of the Union of Myanmar swimming team". MLC School. October 2003. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  3. ^ "Myanmar's Olympic hope: women". News24. 29 August 2000. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
  4. ^ "Swimming – Women's 50m Freestyle Startlist (Heat 1)" (PDF). Sydney 2000. Omega Timing. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
  5. ^ Johnson, Martin (23 September 2000). "Swimming: Next to Paula Eric the Eel is electric". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  6. ^ "Arab women make breakthrough at Games". Sports Illustrated. CNN. 23 September 2000. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  7. ^ "Sydney 2000: Swimming – Women's 50m Freestyle Heat 1" (PDF). Sydney 2000. LA84 Foundation. p. 164. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 August 2011. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
  8. ^ "Results from the Summer Olympics – Swimming (Women's 50m Freestyle)". Canoe.ca. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
  9. ^ "Malaysian, Filipino win big". Sports Illustrated. CNN. 13 September 2001. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  10. ^ "Indonesia suffers medals drought". Jakarta: The Jakarta Post. 14 September 2001. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  11. ^ "China and Japan Share the Gold on Day 5 of Asian Games; China's Wu and Xu Shine". Swimming World Magazine. 4 October 2002. Archived from the original on 28 December 2013. Retrieved 15 May 2013.
  12. ^ "Japan's Kitajima Breaks Barrowman's 200m Breaststroke World Record; Cracks 2:10 Barrier". Swimming World Magazine. 2 October 2002. Archived from the original on 13 February 2012. Retrieved 15 May 2013.