The 2016 Rio Olympics left us all in awe. There were so many historical moments, cute love proposals and countries coming together in this time of uncertainty. But at most it left us picking our favorite athletes and arguing why they were better than the rest.
My favorite athlete didn't set the world record or even win a medal. Instead he rethought me the lessons that I learned in kindergarten in a way that I will never forget.
Often times, the Olympic Committee would give out wild card entries to developing countries. This was done to encourage those countries to develop a sports program. One such wildcard entry was given to the Equatorial Guinea for the 2000 Sydney Olympics. A man named Eric Moussambani volunteered to represent the Equatorial Guinea in the 100-meter free style. By the time he volunteered, he had 8 months to prepare for the race on the world's most competitive stage. There weren't many Olympic sized swimming pools in the Equatorial Guinea, so Eric trained in a lake and later in a hotel swimming pool.
The first time that Eric saw an Olympic sized pool was in Sydney moments before his big race. Normally, people would freak out and give up, but not Eric. He felt as if he had come too far to turn back now.
Now I don't know if you believe in God, destiny, luck or fate being determined by the stars but what happened next was definitely a supernatural occurrence. The two swimmers racing against Moussambani false started. Therefore, they were disqualified and Eric had to swim the 100-meter freestyle heat by himself.
The buzzer buzzed and Eric began to swim. For an inexperienced athlete, he did pretty well in the first 50 meters. The turn was pretty well executed too. Afterwards, he began to show signs of struggle. He was slowing down and his strokes were extremely sluggish. The commentators reported that Eric might drown. The audience began to laugh and mock Eric as he struggled to stay afloat.
In that moment, Eric Moussambani made the most important decision of his life. He chose to continue swimming.
His refusal to give up gained him the respect of the commentators and the audience. Those who jeered at him cheered him on. The commentators who predicted he would drown began to compare him to the Equatorial Guinea record holder and pointed out that he had a chance of beating it. And Eric continued to swim.
Eric won that race, but most importantly he finished it. His finishing time was 1:52.72, more than twice the world record of 47.84, but that didn't matter. Eric Moussambani's spirit won him the hearts of the many people who were watching him, the respect of his country, an Olympic race with the slowest time in Olympic history and the nickname of "Eric the Eel".
Video of Eric the Eel's race: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQ7uWpn4DTs
