Eric moussambani biography

Eric the Eel: A Unique Tale of Hope and Struggle &#; And Lifeguards on Alert

The Olympic Games in Paris concluded, Swimming World takes a look back at the tale of Eric Moussambani, dubbed &#;Eric the Eel.&#; The swimmer from Equatorial Guinea barely made it through his meter freestyle at the Games in Sydney, but was a model of perseverance and determination.

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Citius. Altius. Fortius. It is the Olympic motto, adopted in the late 19th century by Pierre de Coubertin, considered the founder of the modern Olympic movement. Translated from Greek, the motto stands for: Faster. Higher. Stronger.

From Johnny Weissmuller to Sergey Bubka to Pyrros Dimas, hundreds of athletes through the years have fit de Coubertin’s words, their performances etched in Olympic history. But in the case of Eric Moussambani, who made his lone Olympic appearance at the Games in Sydney, another motto would have been more appropriate: Slow. Slower. Slowest.

There is no doubting the heart of Moussambani, who was a year-old in Sydney and the first swimmer to represent Equatorial Guinea at the Olympic Games. He trained hard. He carried himself with honor. He put forth his best effort during his one race. But Moussambani was anything but an Olympic-caliber athlete. Instead, he was a token invitation by the International Olympic Committee to generate interest in various sports in developing countries, his homeland located on the western coast of Middle Africa.

The wildcard given to Moussambani to contest the meter freestyle was in stark contrast to the berths awarded to the world’s leading aquatic nations, such as the United States and Australia. In those countries, only the top-two finishers in each event qualify for Olympic action, making their Trials cutthroat in nature. Through the years, the United States’ third-place finisher in some events would have c

Éric Moussambani became famous at the Sydney Olympics when he finished the metre freestyle in the slowest time in Olympic history. Scheduled in the first heat with two other swimmers, when they false started, Moussambani had to swim alone. He struggled to finish the race and finished last overall in a time slower than what the top swimmers would do in the metres. Despite this, television made him world famous for his efforts. Moussambani also carried the Equatorial Guinean flag at the Sydney Opening Ceremony.

Known as “Eric the Eel,” Moussambani had never before swum in a metre pool and had only begun swimming a few months before the Sydney Olympics. Equatorial Guinea found it could enter one male swimmer and put out a call for athletes to compete, and Moussambani was the only one who answered the call. He trained in a metre hotel pool, the only one available to him. Moussambani continued to swim and improved his time to by and to in at a meet in Germany. He later became national swim coach in Equatorial Guinea, while also working for a petroleum company.

Personal Best: m freestyle – ().

Equatoguinean swimmer (born )

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Moussambani and the second or maternal family name is Malonga.

Eric Moussambani Malonga (born 31 May ) is an Equatoguinean swimmer. Nicknamed Eric the Eel by the media, Moussambani won brief international fame at the Summer Olympics for an extremely unlikely victory. Moussambani, who had never seen an Olympic-sized (50 meters) swimming pool before, swam his heat of the &#;m freestyle on 19&#;September in a time of This was the slowest time in Olympic history by far, and Moussambani had trouble finishing the race, but he won his heat after both his competitors were disqualified due to false starts. Although Moussambani's time was still too slow to advance to the next round, he set a new personal best and an Equatoguinean national record. He later became the coach of the national swimming squad of Equatorial Guinea.

Career

Moussambani gained entry to the Olympics without meeting the minimum qualification requirements via a wildcard draw designed to encourage participation by developing countries lacking full training facilities. Pieter van den Hoogenband won in a time of seconds (setting a world record of in the semi-finals); Moussambani took more than twice that time to finish (). "The last 15 metres were very difficult", Moussambani said. Because the other two swimmers in his heat made false starts and were thus disqualified, he won the heat unopposed.

Before coming to the Olympics, Moussambani had never seen a metre-long (&#;ft) Olympic-size swimming pool. He took up swimming eight months before the Olympics and had practiced in a