Eric Moussambani (born 1978) is a swimmer from Equatorial Guinea.

Moussambani, nicknamed "The Eel" by the media, won worldwide fame at the 2000 Summer Olympics when he swam the 100m freestyle in 112.72 seconds - more than twice the time of his faster competitors, and longer even than the 200m world record.

Moussambani gained entry to the Olympics without meeting the minimum qualification requirements via a wildcard draw designed to encourage developing countries without expensive training facilities to participate. In the heats he squared off against two other swimmers, but both were disqualified for false starts and Moussambani won his one-man heat by default.

In the final, while the winner managed a world-record-breaking 48.64 seconds, Moussambani splashed his way to the finish to the cheers of the crowd in slightly more than twice that. "The last 15 meters were very difficult.", Moussambani said.

Before coming to the Olympics, Moussambani had never seen a 50m pool. He took up swimming only 8 months before the Olympics and had practiced in a 20m pool.

External links

• http://www.espn.go.com/oly/summer00/swimming/s/2000/0920/760807.html
• The Eric Moussambani Fanclub
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics2000/swimming/931508.stm
• http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/thenetwork/news/2000/09/20/eric_moussambani/