CHRISTIAN RADNEDGE in YANGON** —- The wave of optimism in Myanmar since last year’s general election will encourage the country’s Olympic team on to a historic performance at the Rio 2016 Games.

That is the hope and belief of Khin Maung Lwin, joint secretary-general of the Myanmar Olympic Committee, in the wake of the success of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy in winning a supermajority in the combined national parliament.

Myanmar's national indoor arena and NOC HQ

This was the first openly contested election in Myanmar since the 1990 general election, which was annulled by the military government anyway.

While the former Burma continues its progress diplomatically, Lwin hopes that sport will benefit from the country’s more open nature to the rest of the world.

Hosting success

“We successfully hosted the 27th Southeast Asian Games in December 2013 in Myanmar which helped to motivate all the young athletes throughout the country,” Lwin said in Yangon (previously Rangoon).

“We do hope that this [Rio 2016] is the chance to enhance the optimism in the country and we could carry on and get through with many achievements and success in the coming years.

“Olympism and Olympic Games are very important events for all our Myanmar citizens and after being recognized by the International Olympic Committee as a member of the Olympic family in July, 1947, we participated at the 14th Olympic Games held in London, England in the year 1948 and in every Olympic Games to date (except for 1976).

“Which means that we have a very long historical background in Olympism and the Olympic Games and there is no wonder that all our Myanmar people love the Olympics.”

It’s not been an easy ride for Myanmar at Games gone by. The country has never won a medal – not helped by the small number of athletes they have been able to send. In Munich 1972, Myanmar sent a record 18 athletes to the Games, but this was only for four sports.

In the previous two Olympic Games in Beijing and London they have sent six athletes in a record five sports.

Motivational selection

Again, it is six who will travel to Rio, Lwin confirms. But while the hopes for a historic medal are not high, the prospect of competing for national pride is still a sufficient motivator.

He said: “We will be sending five male athletes for Canoeing, Judo, Taekwondo, Boxing, Shooting and one female athlete for Archery.

“To be frank, it will be rather hard to achieve medals in such very high level of competitions and games but of course we will try our very best to achieve the best personal performance.”

Preparations for Rio have been overshadowed by concerns over Brazil’s infrastructure construction deadlines, and even more recently the Zika virus epidemic which has spread across South America.

While medical officials work on a plan to keep around 16,000 athletes and 600,000 visitors to Rio safe and healthy, Lwin does not believe the problems will be insurmountable to the Rio 2016 organising committee.

No Rio worries

“We are not worried about the preparations for the Rio Games as similar matters happened in the previous Games,” he said. “For instance, the construction of the aquatics centre at London 2012 seemed to be delayed but at the final stage, they had done it.

“As for the Zika virus, we do believe that the authorities concerned can overcome this outbreak of disease.

“Anyway, we have no doubt that the 2016 Rio Games will be concluded without any problems.”

Rapid changes are occurring in Myanmar as common goods become cheaper to the population.

Despite the increasing number of cars on the road and rise in electronics, like smartphones and tablets, it is still impossible to walk down a street in Yangon, Mandalay or even further afield and not see a group of children playing some sort of sport, whether it be badminton, table tennis or futsal.

Youth focus

Lwin pleads ignorance when asked if Myanmar is considering bidding to host the 2026 Asian Games, but does say that the Ministry of Sport is determined to get more young people active with new seasonal sports programmes and local competitions in rural areas.

Civil war and ethnic clashes still blight large areas of Myanmar. Sport cannot cure historical conflicts, but it can open up the younger generation to activities and rewards taken for granted in the rest of the world.

**This article first appeared in Around The Rings / http://www.aroundtherings.com/

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