Malabo (Equatorial Guinea) (AFP)
He made a name for himself, and a nickname, by signing the slowest 100m freestyle in Olympic history: twenty years after the Sydney Olympics, Eric Moussambani, renamed at the time "Eric the eel" , works so that his country, Equatorial Guinea, has "good swimmers".
This is one of the images from the Sydney Games.
On the verge of exhaustion, encouraged by dumbfounded spectators, Eric Moussambani completed his two lengths of the Olympic basin after 1 min 52 sec 72 / 100th of ordeal.
Despite the gibes, his very frustrating technique (he swam without ever putting his head under water!) And his time far from the world record of the time (48.18), Moussambani, then aged 22, became the one of the heroes of the Australian fortnight.
To the point of gaining a nickname ("Eric the eel"), given by the Australian press, and becoming the incarnation of the motto of Pierre de Coubertin, the renovator of the Olympic movement for whom "the important thing is to participate".
"I did a lot of advertising in Japan and Australia. I traveled, answered many invitations from federations in several countries, many interviews around the world," recalls Moussambani in an interview with AFP.
He has not forgotten his Olympic epic.
In particular the circumstances which brought him to Sydney.
- "I couldn't swim" -
"One day, a national radio statement said that swimmers were needed for the country's Swimming Federation, the meeting was at the Hotel Ureca on a Saturday. I was the only boy, there was a daughter too, in the end there were only two of us, "he says.
"The president of the Olympic committee at the time, Mr. Fernando Minko, wanted to see how we swim, so I dived in the pool and started to move my feet. He told us that we would go to the Games. Olympics in Australia. It was two or three months before the opening! There was not even a coach. I asked a man from the hotel to come and train me, he said. 'okay, but from 5 am to 6 am, because the pool was for the customers, ”recalls the father of four.
"I did not yet know what the Olympics were, I was only looking forward to traveling, I had only that in my head, I did not even know where Australia was", admits he.
While the stars of swimming prepare the meeting of the Olympics in the smallest detail for four years, Moussambani improvised until the end.
"Honestly, I did not know how to swim. I had a few notions but nothing more and no experience for such a competition. I did not know how to move the arms, the feet, coordinate my breathing with the movements", admits -he.
“When I was shown the Olympic swimming pool, I had never seen one so big, I thought: + seriously, I can't. + During my training in Sydney, I never swam until the end ... ", recalls the one who started swimming at" 19-20 years ", after having broken an arm while playing basketball.
- Bermuda shorts from a thrift store -
Before his 100m anthology, run alone, a benefactor saved him.
"I had no swimming clothes, no glasses, the federation had given me nothing, I just had Bermuda shorts that I bought at the thrift store (...) On the day of the competition, a coach from South Africa saw me with Bermuda shorts and a towel: + you are going to be disqualified, your outfit is not legal, it looks like you are going to the beach. + So he gave me a swimsuit and glasses, ”he smiles.
If he could not continue his Olympic history and go to Athens in 2004 because of an administrative error of the Equatorial Guinean Olympic committee which had lost his identity photo, Moussambani, employee of an oil company, did not turn his back on swimming.
"I am a national coach in the Equatorial Guinea Swimming Federation, I work for our country to have good swimmers, by teaching them the fundamentals from an early age. They, at least, have the opportunity to see and to train in Olympic-size swimming pools, ”he appreciates.
© 2020 AFP