Eric Moussambani Malonga
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Eric Moussambani Malonga |
| Born | May 31, 1978 |
| Sport | |
| Country |
 Equatorial Guinea
|
| Event(s) | |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Personal best(s) |
50 m freestyle: 27.99 NR (2004) 100 m freestyle: 56.99 NR (2004) |
Eric Moussambani Malonga (born May 31, 1978) is a swimmer from Equatorial Guinea. Nicknamed "Eric the Eel" by the media, Moussambani won brief international fame at the 2000 Summer Olympics for an extremely unlikely victory. Moussambani, who had never seen an Olympic-sized swimming pool before, swam his heat of the 100 m freestyle in the unprecedentedly slow time of 1:52.72. This was the slowest time in Olympic history by far and Moussambani apparently had trouble finishing the race, but he won his heat after both his competitors disqualified themselves by jumping early. While Moussambani's time was still too slow to advance to the next round, he set a new personal best and an Equatoguinean national record. He later became the coach of the national swimming squad of Equatorial Guinea.
Moussambani gained entry to the Olympics without meeting the minimum qualification requirements via a wildcard draw designed to encourage participation by developing countries lacking full training facilities. While Pieter van den Hoogenband won in a time of 48.30 seconds (setting a world record of 47.84 in the semi-finals), Moussambani took more than twice that time to finish (1:52.72). "The last 15 metres were very difficult", Moussambani said. Because the other two swimmers in his heat made false starts, and were thus disqualified, he won the heat unopposed.
Before coming to the Olympics, Moussambani had never seen a 50 m (160 ft) long Olympic-size swimming pool. He took up swimming eight months before the Olympics and had practised in a lake, and later a 12-metre swimming pool in a hotel in Malabo, that he was only given access to between 5 and 6 AM.
Moussambani's performance generated spectator and media interest in Paula Barila Bolopa, the only other Equatoguinean swimmer at the 2000 Summer Olympics. Bolopa competed in the women's 50 meters freestyle event, struggling to finish the race with a time of 1:03.97. In setting a record for the slowest time in Olympic history for that event, she also achieved major celebrity status.
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