Worst/Best Olympic qualifying race ever-100Meter Dog Paddle!

submitted by doogle
1 decade 6 years 4 months 3 weeks ago
To bring the Olympic spirit to developing nations in the late 90's, the Olympic Committee allowed a small number of 'wild card' athletes to join the Games. But because they didn't have to go through any qualifying rounds to compete, not all the contenders arrived prepared. When Moussambani arrived at the 2000 Sydney Games, he'd only been training for the 100-meter freestyle for about 8 months. He'd also never been in an Olympic-size pool and had never raced more than 50 meters. Regardless, he was determined to represent his country.

The 3 wild-card qualifiers were given their own heat, and Moussambani took to the blocks next to swimmers from Niger and Tajikistan. When the official called the swimmers to their marks, both of Moussambani's competitors were disqualified for false starts. Left to swim the heat by himself, Eric dove in and dog paddles, gasping for air and flailing his arms and legs. Halfway through the race, the situation looked so dire that commentators seriously worried he was drowning.

When Moussambani eventually stalled out 10 meters from the end of the race, the crowd rallied behind him as he inched toward the finish. As he finally pulled himself from the water, the applause thundered. His final time was 1:52.72-more than twice that of swimmers in the previous heat. But Moussambani couldn't have been happier. Ecstatic to have finished his first 100-meter race, he told reporters "I'm going to jump and dance all night long in celebration of my personal triumph."

Moussambani's pluck and perseverance made him an Olympic celebrity, and his newfound fans dubbed him "Eric the Eel." He kept training for the 2004 Games and even got this time down to a respectable 57 seconds. Unfortunately a visa snafu kept him from competing again.
-Mental_Floss magazine, July 2008, p.42-43

46 Comments

10555says...

Just the clarify the 'commentating' is actually done by Roy and HG, a pair of comedians that hosted a parody Olympic news program called The Dream after each day of competition during the Sydney Olympics. They'd take segments of competition from the games and then do new commentary which generally turned out piss-funny.

But yes definitely something which stuck with me from the Olympics was watching this bloke thrash about, warms the cockles of your heart doesn't it.

enemycombatantsays...

"Unfortunately a visa snafu kept him from competing again." I doubt the visa was the only thing keeping him out.

I appreciate the spirit but I don't think the Olympics are the appropriate platform for this. You cannot tell me this man was as deserving as any one of the hundreds of athletes who have dedicated their entire lives to their sports only to miss their country's qualifying times by hundredths of a second during one qualifying race.

On that note, I'll be coming out of retirement to seek Equatorial Guinea citizenship and the title of "nation's greatest swimmer."

dooglesays...

Ummm- I was copying the reference to dog paddling from the mental_floss article I cited. I thought maybe it was just kicking the feet - but I guess not.
Should I change the title?

Perhaps:
Worst/Best Olympic qualifying race ever-100meter swim!
?

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