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Melbourne swimmer Win Htet Oo says pulling out was an ‘easy decision to make’ and a small price to pay
There are almost 1,000 athletes here for the swimming competition, which began on Saturday. Win Htet Oo is not among them. Having qualified for the 50m freestyle, Oo was ready to make his Olympic debut as Myanmar’s lone swimmer. No longer.
Oo is absent, in lockdown 8,000 kilometres away in Melbourne, after the military seized power in a coup in February. With the junta committing human rights atrocities and dismantling civilian governance – and the Myanmar Olympic Committee (MOC) among those government structures expected to fall in line – Oo felt he could not represent his nation’s flag.
