At the 2000 Sydney Games, Olympic swimmer Eric Moussambani nearly drowned during his race because he barely knew how to swim.
Eric Moussambani, a swimmer from Equatorial Guinea, became famous during the 2000 Sydney Olympics for his unforgettable performance in the 100-meter freestyle event.
His journey to the Olympics was anything but ordinary, as he barely knew how to swim.
Eric Moussambani was selected to compete as he was the only male
In the lead-up to the Sydney Games, Equatorial Guinea, a small country in Central Africa, put out a call for athletes to represent them.
Among the respondents was a 22-year-old named Eric Moussambani, who had never even learned how to swim properly.
Despite this lack of experience, Eric was selected to the Equatorial Guinean swim team, simply because he was the only male swimmer to show up for the trials.
His female counterpart, Paula Barila Bolopa, also made the team by default.
Olympic swimmers didn’t know how to swim properly and never swam in a standard pool
Equatorial Guinea did not have the facilities for him to train, so he had to make do with a small hotel pool that was just 13 meters long.
“I started swimming when I left school. We didn’t have a swimming pool,” he said.
Remarkably, he had no formal coaching and had to rely on the advice of local fishermen to learn the basics of swimming.
“I trained on my own and I had no swimming experience.
The pool was only available from 5 am to 6 am and I was only able to train for three hours a week.”
He further recalled: “The fishermen would tell me how to use my legs and how to swim.
There was nothing professional about it at all.”
As the Olympics approached, Eric’s preparedness was a major concern.
He had never even set foot in a full-size Olympic pool, which measures 50 meters in length.
“I was scared by the sight of the first pool I’d be racing in,” he admitted.
Olympic swimmer nearly drowned during competition as he didn’t how to swim
When the big day arrived, Eric’s race was a true test of his mettle.
The two other athletes in his heat were disqualified, leaving him as the sole competitor.
As Eric started the race, the crowd watched with a mix of amusement and worry.
The inexperienced swimmer struggled to stay in form.
At one point, it seemed Eric might not reach the finish line. Halfway through the race, he had to grab the lane rope to avoid sinking.
Despite this, he heard the loud cheers from the spectators. Their support gave him the strength to keep going.
Eric kept swimming and finally completed the 100-meter race. He crossed the finish line with a time of 1 minute and 52 seconds.
Even though Eric’s swimming style was strange, the audience was amazed by his strong determination and courage.
He never gave up, even when it was hard. This made people watching love his story.
“I knew that the whole world was watching me – my family, my country, my mother, my sister, and my friends,” he said.
“That’s why I was telling myself that I had to keep going, that I had to finish, even if I was alone in the pool.”
Eric Moussambani continued his journey and gained achievements
In the years that followed, Eric continued to train and improve his swimming skills.
After the Sydney Olympics, Eric kept practicing and got better.
He was able to swim the 100 meters in 57 seconds.
That time would have been fast enough to win the gold medal at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.
Later, Eric became the coach of the swimming team in Equatorial Guinea.
Because of that, Equatorial Guinea built two full-size Olympic swimming pools in the country.