25 years since the most surreal Olympic moment: the swimmer who couldn't swim

BarcelonaHe didn't win a medal, but spectators will never forget his performance. The exploits of Ian Thorpe, Marian Jones, Michael Johnson, Venus Williams, and Vince Carter fill the newspaper archives, but the story of Eric Moussambani, a swimmer from Equatorial Guinea who nearly drowned, touched the hearts of fans. The race took place on September 19th; he will soon be 25 years old.

Moussambani wanted to compete in an athletics event at the Olympic Games, but his country's places were full, and his opportunity came through swimming. The International Olympic Committee realized that there was a very low representation of countries from Africa and the Middle East, so it established a quota system for athletes who lacked extensive experience. He didn't even know how to swim, but he volunteered after hearing on the radio that athletes were being sought to travel to Sydney.

When his country's Olympic Committee offered him the chance to participate in the 100-meter race, the event was still eight months away. "When they told us we were going to the Olympic Games, I still didn't know what they were. I was just happy to travel, to be out and about. That was what was on my mind; I didn't even know where Australia was," he told AFP in an interview. Although he had swum in the rivers near his home, he had never actually participated in a high-performance event and was only able to train in a hotel pool that was 22 meters long.

The young man traveled to Sydney, where he was his country's flag bearer at the opening ceremony. When the day of the competition arrived and he saw the pool, he couldn't believe it. It seemed impossible to cover the 50 meters twice. Furthermore, he didn't have a proper swimsuit or goggles. He was dressed in Bermuda shorts he had bought at a secondhand store. When South Africa's coach saw him, he told him he'd be disqualified. "He told me I looked like I was going to the beach," he explained later. It was true.

Although he didn't meet the minimum required time, a system designed to allow athletes from developing countries to participate opened the doors to Sydney 2000 for him. In the qualifying heats, Moussambani competed with two swimmers who had been admitted through the same system, but both (Tajikistan) were disqualified for false starts, and the Guinean ended up competing alone in his qualifying heat.

While the winner, Pieter van den Hoogenband, achieved the world record with 47.84 seconds, Moussambani took more than twice as long to complete the course (1 minute, 52 seconds and 0.72). Without energy, he struggled to avoid drowning, while being cheered on by the audience. "The last fifteen meters were very difficult," he acknowledged. In the days and months that followed, Moussambani, who was christened L'Anguila, became a folk hero and was invited to television programs and other events.

The slowest thing in history

Moussambani will be remembered as the slowest Olympic swimmer in history. "Honestly, I didn't know how to swim. I had notions and that was it. At an international, competitive level, I had no experience. I didn't know how to move my arms and feet or how to coordinate my breathing in the water," he said.

"My appearance at the Olympics helped raise awareness of my country, and I became a figure in the sport, both there and in surrounding countries. I'm a kind of ambassador for swimming in this region," said the Guinean, who was unable to participate in the 60-second Olympics in Athens. A visa issue meant he couldn't shake off the bitterness of his previous participation. "Now we have boys and girls swimming in the lower categories, something unthinkable when I started," he boasts.