Vinnie Vegas’s Great Olympic Moments #2
The Eric Moussambani Story
Sydney, Australia. 2000. Like most men, when I think of Sydney I think of statuesque, beautiful Aussie women. But the 2000 Olympics did give us another genuine Sydney mental association – that is the stirring story of Equatorial Guinea’s Olympic hero, Eric Moussambani.
Equatorial Guinea had no Olympic sized swimming pools to train in, so he made do with a hotel swimming pool. And Moussambani’s training consisted of about 8 months of part time practice. No matter: with the dogged determination of a true world class athlete, he packed his bags and went to Sydney to proudly represent his nation.
After a false start that disqualifies the other two competitors from the 100 Meter Freestyle, Moussambani is the sole competitor. He has to come in first, in a field of one. And in his great Olympic moment, he does the impossible.
He almost drowns.
Despite his performance, the record books show that he finished the 100 meter freestyle in 1:52.72, breaking the Equatorial Guinea national record.
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