Eric Moussambani Malonga from Equatorial Guinea is best known for his less-than-stellar performance in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, and perhaps his performance answers the question of why lifeguards are at the Olympics.
Well, maybe that’s not fair to Eric or the lifeguards.
The lifeguards, as the New York Times notes, “…never used their whistles. They never once yelled at the Olympians to stop running on the pool deck.”
Yet, their job is an important one as they are trained to handle Olympic-sized injuries that would require helping the athletes out of the water, more so than the knicks, bruises, and possible drownings in public pools.
The story of Eric the Eel is intriguing as he had only trained in a 20-meter pool which is not even half the length of an Olympic pool at 50 meters. He had only taken up swimming eight months before the Olympics.
He was there as his nation had received a “wildcard” draw to encourage developing nations to grow Olympic sports in their respective countries–what is known as Universality Places.
At 1:52:72, Eric swam the slowest 100-m freestyle in Olympic history, yet his performance propelled him to a great Olympic story of triumph. He has become an embodiment of the Olympic spirit.
I encourage a read of the National Post article: “Allen Abel: How ‘Eric the Eel’ had one bad swim and became an enduring Olympic legend.”