Eric Moussambani
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Eric Moussambani (born May 31, 1978) is a swimmer from Equatorial Guinea.
Eric Moussambani, nicknamed "Eric The Eel" by the media after the name first appeared in an article by Craig Lord in The Times newspaper in London,[1] won brief international fame at the 2000 Summer Olympics when he swam his heat of the 100m freestyle in 1:52.72 and won, because the two other competitors -Karim Bare and Farkhod Oripov- were disqualified for taking a false start. So slow it was more than twice the time of his faster competitors, and outside even the 200m world record.
Moussambani gained entry to the Olympics without meeting the minimum qualification requirements via a wildcard draw designed to encourage developing countries without expensive training facilities to participate. While Pieter van den Hoogenband set a world record of 47.84 seconds to win the gold medal, Moussambani splashed his way to the finish to the cheers of the crowd in slightly more than twice that time. "The last 15 meters were very difficult," Moussambani said.
Before coming to the Olympics, Moussambani had never seen a 50m pool. He took up swimming only 8 months before the Olympics and had practiced in a mere 20m pool.
His performance generated spectator and media interest in the only other Equatorial Guinean swimmer at the Sydney Olympics, Paula Barila Bolopa, who competed in the women's 50 metres freestyle event. Barila struggled to finish the race with a time of 01:03.97, setting a record for the slowest time in Olympic history for that event, and in turn achieved minor celebrity status.[2] [3]
Moussambani was denied entry into the 2004 Olympic Games due to a visa bungle,[4] despite the vast improvement in his swimming over the previous four years, with his personal best down to under 57 seconds.[5]
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[edit] References
- ^ Lord, Craig (2000-09-19). Courage on the blocks. Sydney Olympics 2000: Swimming News Archive. The Times. Retrieved on 2008-05-09. “Moussambani would plough a lonely lane for his finest 1mins 52.7sec, though it felt like an hour. Equatorial Guinea’s aquatic answer to Eddie the Eagle - Eric the Eel - churned the lane in which Ian Thorpe had raced to a silver medal in 1min 45sec over double the distance the day before.”
- ^ "Barila Bolopa paddles her way to Olympic stardom", Agence France-Presse, September 21, 2000
- ^ "'Paula the Crawler' sets record", BBC, September 22, 2000
- ^ "Eric 'the Eel' misses Games", BBC Sport, 2004-08-09. Retrieved on 2001-05-31. "Eric 'the Eel' Moussambani's chances of competing at the Athens Olympics have been scuppered by problems over his application form. Officials were unable to locate his passport photograph, preventing him from competing for Equatorial Guinea."
- ^ Brown, Alex. "Struggling to keep himself afloat", The Sydney Morning Herald, 2004-08-06. Retrieved on 2001-05-31. "Despite cutting his personal best for the 100m from 1 minute 52.72 seconds in Sydney to under 57s today, a sponsorless, near-broke Moussambani fears that failure to compete in Athens will force him into retirement."
