Missing Data on Burmese Olympians

Myanmar/Burma is a country for which we have much missing data and, according to the OlyMADMen database, there are six competitors for whom we lack even a complete date of birth. We have covered one of them, 1948 boxer Saw Hardy, in a previous post, so today on Oldest Olympians we wanted to take a brief look at the remaining participants so that we can highlight their Olympic contributions and perhaps uncover more information about who these individuals were. Unfortunately, we have very little to say about most of these athletes.

Chow Park Wing – Member of Myanmar’s sailing delegations to the 1956 and 1960 Summer Olympics

Chow Park Wing, born c. 1924, represented Myanmar in two editions of the Olympic Flying Dutchman sailing tournaments, in 1956 and 1960, finishing 13th and 29th respectively. Both times, he competed alongside Gyi Khin Pe. Chow is the only Burmese competitor for whom we lack even a year of birth, although his approximate age at the time of competition suggests that he could still be alive.

Aw Chu Kee – Member of Myanmar’s weightlifting delegation to the 1956 Melbourne Olympics

Aw Chu Kee, born in 1926, represented Myanmar in weightlifting’s bantamweight division at the 1956 Melbourne Games, where he placed 11th out of 16 entrants. As far as we are aware, this is the only major international tournament in which he participated, and thus we have been unable to uncover more information about his life.

(Myo Thant, seated in the center, pictured on Flickr)

Myo Thant – Member of Myanmar’s boxing delegation to the 1948 London Olympics

Myo Thant, born in 1922, represented Myanmar in boxing’s flyweight division at the 1948 London Games, where he was eliminated in round two. He was a well-known boxer in his home country, active in the 1940s, and we have seen his name presented in several variations, but we have been able to uncover nothing about his life following his retirement from active competition.

Maung Win Maung – Member of Myanmar’s weightlifting delegation to the 1948 London Olympics

Maung Win Maung, born in 1921, represented Myanmar in weightlifting’s bantamweight division at the 1948 London Games, where he placed 15th out of 19 entrants. Like many Burmese athletes, there is uncertainty surrounding his name and very little information in general that we could find about his life.

Maung Sein Pe – Sole track athlete in Myanmar’s delegation to the 1948 London Olympics

Maung Sein Pe, born in 1920, represented Myanmar in both the 100 and 200 metres track event at the 1948 London Games, and was eliminated in the first round of both. Once again, we know very little else about him, but we hope that by highlighting his participation, we can learn more.

Finally, we wanted to provide an update on a recent post, where we mentioned that Romanian rower Ladislau Lovrenschi was potentially the oldest survivor of the 1988 Seoul Olympics. A commenter pointed out, however, that the Romanian Olympic Committee lists Lovrenschi as deceased, albeit without a precise date of death. This makes Austrian sport shooter Hermann Sailer, born November 1, 1933, the oldest survivor of the Seoul Olympics. We greatly appreciate having this pointed out and hope to include more updates in our next post!