The Nation reported on 12 August 1948 that members of the Burmese Olympic team were entertained at Buckingham Palace by none other than Their Majesties the King and Queen themselves.

Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret also showed up and talked with the Burmese athletes about their Olympic prospects.

In looking at later issues of this newspaper, I did not see any reports on how the athletes actually did. So I’m guessing that meeting with the royal family was perhaps the biggest “victory” of these Olympics for the team from Burma.

The even bigger victory of course was the fact that Burma sent a team to the Olympics in the first place, for it was only at the beginning of that year that Burma became independent from British colonial rule, and therefore became a nation able to participate in this international competition.

This encounter between the king and queen and the Burmese athletes therefore marked a new kind of interaction.

So here’s to the 1948 Burmese Olympic team!! Job well done.