Eric Mussambani

Erik Mussambani, swimmer from Equatorial Guinea, gained fame at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. He was able to get into the competition not with the help of the fulfilled standard, but thanks to the invitation that the International Olympic Committee gives to developing countries. Before arriving in Australia, Mussambani was engaged in swimming for only eight months and had never seen a 50-meter pool in his life - he spent his training on the lake or in a small hotel pool.

Mussambani went to the start of the preliminary swim for 100 meters in the usual swimming trunks and simple glasses, in which the elastic was not even fixed. He had to speak alone - the other athletes who were supposed to swim nearby were disqualified for a false start. Spectators warmly supported Mussambani during his swim, while he struggled to overcome every meter of the distance. At the finish, he showed the time 1: 52.72 - more than a minute worse than needed to reach the semifinals. At the same time, Mussambani officially set a national record.

On this his swimmer career did not end. He continued to play sports and a year later at the World Championships he swam 50 meters in 31.88 seconds, leaving behind three rivals at once. For the next Olympics in Athens, Mussambani was already swimming out of 57 seconds at a hundred, but he could not please the fans with his progress - the Greek authorities did not issue him a visa.

Ranatunge Karunananda

Long before Mussambani, the title of the worst athlete in history could have been challenged by an athlete from Sri Lanka, Ranatunge Karunananda. In 1964, at the Tokyo Olympics, he took part in the 10,000-meter race. Almost immediately, the athlete began to lag behind his rivals, and by the time the winner Billy Miles had already finished, Karunananda had to overcome several more laps.

At first, the audience laughed at the athlete who so much lost to the other runners. But over time, they began to increasingly express admiration for how purposefully he tried to get to the finish line. Karunananda still finished the race and gained real popularity in Japan. Two days later, he competed in the 5,000-meter race, and this time managed to escape the last spot.

In 1975, Karunananda was going to migrate to Japan, where he even talked about his exploit at the Olympics in school books. But soon after the move, the athlete died under mysterious circumstances.

Philip Boyt

When Kenyan Philip Boyt decided to connect his life with sports, he decided not to follow in the footsteps of his uncle Mike, who won the Olympic bronze in the 800 meters, but to prove himself in something unusual. As a result, he seriously engaged in cross-country skiing and in 1998 became the first athlete from his country to attend the Winter Olympics.

Two years of training did not allow Boyt to overtake at least someone in the 10 km race. On the contrary, he lost almost eight minutes to Macedonian Gyoko Dineski, who took 91st place. Due to the fact that the Kenyan ran for so long, the organizers had to delay the award ceremony, since the winner of the race, the great Norwegian Bjorn Delhi, patiently waited for Boyt's finish to hug him after the race. In appreciation of such a gesture, the Kenyan named his son Delhi.

This was not the end of Boyt's ski career. He continued to qualify for the Olympics and world championships and sometimes even avoided the last places. The last time he took part in the official start in March 2012, when he decided to perform in a 90-kilometer marathon. Having spent more than eight hours on the course, the Kenyan still reached the finish line and took 166th place.

Adrian Solano

If Boyt could still boast of some local successes, then Venezuelan Adrian Solano firmly secured the title of one of the worst skiers in the world. The fact that he runs skiing and is an athlete was once not even believed by law enforcement officials in France, where he did a transplant, going to a training camp in Sweden. Solano was detained because authorities believed he was trying to immigrate illegally.

So the Venezuelan missed his chance to see the snow for the first time, and at the World Championships in Finland in 2017 he got completely unprepared. In the 10 km race he kept falling and getting lost in his own skis until he decided to give up 39 minutes after the start - by that time he had overcome only 3.5 km. He managed to get to the finish line only in the sprint qualification. Solano took more than 13 minutes to walk 1.6 km, while the best skiers spend a little more than three on it.

Hilda Montenegro

Costa Rican resident Hilda Montenegro worked as a rafting instructor in the early 1990s when one of her clients, Olympic team manager Rafael Gallo, told her that at the Barcelona Games in 1992 the team would have a free quota in rowing slalom, which the girl could take. Although Montenegro did not know anything about this sport, she agreed to go to the Olympics, which was only a month away.

Nothing good came of this venture. During the first descent, the athlete collected 470 seconds of the penalty for incorrectly passed gates - her total time was almost two times higher than the result of the nearest opponent. The second descent completely ended for Montenegro deplorably - by the end of the race she turned over and hit her head so hard on the bottom that her helmet cracked.

After that, Montenegro refused to board the slalom boat for a year and a half, but still she continued training and was able to get to the next Olympics. In Atlanta, she fulfilled her dream and passed one of the descents almost cleanly, avoiding the last place. Interestingly, her husband, German Oliver Fix, at the same competitions became the Olympic champion.

Derrick Tenai

The debut at the Olympics was also a failure for Derrick Tenai, a resident of the Solomon Islands. In 1988, he unexpectedly turned out to be among the participants in the archery tournament, although he himself never held the modern version of this weapon in his hands, and in ordinary life he worked as a simple security guard.

Tenai’s result in qualifications, to put it mildly, was not impressive. He needed to make 144 shots, but in 55 cases he simply did not hit the target - even one such miss for a professional archer is considered a huge failure. In total, Tenai scored 505 points, that is, on average less than four points for one arrow, and naturally took the last place.

Trevor Misipeka


The history of American Samoa football player Trevor Misipeki does not apply to the Games. Fans learned his name during the 2001 World Athletics Championships. Weighing about 140 kg, the athlete originally intended to perform in the shot put in the quota that is granted to developing countries.

But already upon arrival in Edmonton, his delegation learned that this rule does not apply to technical disciplines.

To the trip did not disappear in vain, Misipeka appeared in the race for 100 meters and was among the participants in the first preliminary race. The new sprinter could not compete with real runners. Misipeka spent 14.28 seconds on the race and naturally took the last place. At the same time, he himself was pleased that his starting reaction was better than that of some other athletes.

Misipek did not continue his career as an athlete, but instead tried to realize himself in American football, but did not succeed. It is possible that if he had acted in the shot put, his name would have remained unknown in the world of sports.