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Olympic spirit Swimmer competes for love of sport
By Terry Baddoo, CNNSI.com
SYDNEY-- He woke up on Wednesday as the darling of the media. An international hero whose spirited effort in the 100-meter freestyle heats has drawn parallels with Eddie the Eagle, the crown prince of the 1988 Winter Games whose ski-jumping charmed the world. It's a claim to fame that left Eric Moussambani, a.k.a. Eric the Swimmer, overwhelmed. "It was good and bad," Moussambani says. "Obviously the fame is good now, but the bad thing is I don't have such a good idea about swimming. So I don't like the attention to get over the top. It's a bit much for me at the moment." The 22-year-old from Equatorial Guinea, who had never swam in a 50-meter pool, was invited to the Games as a wild card entry without reaching the qualifying standard. And it showed.
"Before this race I never finished a 100 meter race," Moussambani admits. "I want to thank the crowd which kept me going because I have never done this in my life before." Indeed Eric's time for the 100 meters was so slow it was roughly twice that of the world record and slower than Ian Thorpe takes to swim 200 meters. But despite the figures, his effort won praise at the highest level. "I saw it on TV like everyone else and it was quite amazing the cheer that he got swimming that race," said Thorpe, already the winner of three swimming gold medals at the 2000 Games. "That was quite incredible. And that's what the Olympics are about is athletes from around the world having the opportunity to swim at the biggest event there is." And it seems the Olympic experience has whetted Eric's appetite. He's already looking for a coach to help get him to the next Games where he hopes to win a medal.
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