Moe Thu Aung

Moe Thu Aung

Personal information
Full name	Moe Thu Aung
National team	Myanmar
Born	10 June 1981 Yangon, Myanmar
Height	1.71 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight	53 kg (117 lb)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Freestyle, butterfly
Club	MLC Marlins (AUS)
Coach	John Bladon (AUS)
Medal record Women's swimming Representing Myanmar Southeast Asian Games 2001 Kuala Lumpur 50 m freestyle 2001 Kuala Lumpur 100 m freestyle 2001 Kuala Lumpur 100 m butterfly 2003 Hanoi 50 m freestyle 2003 Hanoi 100 m freestyle 2003 Hanoi 100 m butterfly 2005 Manila 100 m butterfly 2005 Manila 50 m freestyle 2005 Manila 100 m freestyle 2005 Manila 200 m freestyle

Moe Thu Aung (born June 10, 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. "Moe Thu Aung". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. 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. 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. 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. 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. Retrieved 15 May 2013.