Moe Thu Aung


Moe Thu Aung is a Burmese former swimmer, who specialized in sprint freestyle and butterfly events. Aung represented Myanmar at the 2000 Summer Olympics, received a total of ten medals 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.
Aung competed only in the women's 50 m freestyle at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. She received a ticket from FINA, under a Universality program, without meeting an entry time. 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. 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.
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 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 and in the 100 m butterfly.
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 and in the 100 m freestyle.