45-Year-Old Track Star's Resilience Turns Slowest 100m Freestyle into an Overnight Heroic Tale

Hailing from Equatorial Guinea, Eric Moussambani Malonga earned international fame for his performance at the 2000 Summer Olympic Games, Sydney. However, not every glory is won by winning. Despite completing the slowest ever in Olympics, track star became an overnight hero. How?

Eric Moussambani's confusing race

Seemingly, Eric got confused when both his competitors were disqualified and didn’t realize that the race had already begun, until officials instructed him to finish the race on his own.

The Slowest Olympic swimmer 

This was the swimmer’s first dive into an Olympic-sized pool. Unprepared for the competition, he finished the race in one minute and 52.72 seconds- a record slow time. As a result, the swimmer lost the chance to win by default. But not hope.

Eric Moussambani’s story of perseverance

Eric vowed to return and regain his honor. His fighting spirit received praise from all over the world. Particularly, upon discovering that he'd practise in rivers teeming with crocodiles and sharks due to absence of a training pool in his country. Inspiring, isn't it?

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