You might remember him, Eric Moussambani aka ‘Eric the Eel’, who swam the 100 freestyle at the Sydney 2000 Olympics in 1 minute 52.72 seconds, after having been so unsure about the starting procedure, that the two others in the heat false started. The Guardian sees this moment as one of ’50 stunning Olympic moments’ in this lengthy article, I sure hope that Phelps vs Cavic or USA vs France will be there too.
Back at the Olympic village, Moussambani was hailed as the very embodiment of the Games spirit and his every excursion was soundtracked by spontaneous applause. A giant banner was draped outside the lodgings of the Equatorial Guinea team declaring “Eric the swimmer lives here”, a German TV crew took him on a tour of Sydney Harbour and his hero, the Australian swimmer Michael Klim, sought him out to shake his hand.
