In swimming, people's attention will always be attracted to the leading group, because there is only one champion, on the contrary, the penultimate place means failure, and even be laughed at.
In the arena of success-or-failure heroes, an equatorial Guinea athlete named Eric Moussambani broke the prejudice against losers.
Musabani in the game. Image source: IOC website.
Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, 100m men's freestyle preliminaries. When The 22-year-old Musmbani took off the stage, he probably couldn't predict how the game would affect him for the rest of his life. Although he finished first in that Olympic Games with a time of 1:52.72, this did not affect the respect and praise for him.
In that match, Nigerians and Tajikistan, who competed with Musanbani, were disqualified for snatching. The huge swimming pool left only one player, Musabani, and 17,000 spectators.
Musabani, who heard the news, was momentarily confused: "I became more nervous, everyone was watching me, and the TV was still live." In fact, in addition to the nervousness, Musabani felt more scared, because before this, he had never swam a 100-meter race, or even seen a 50-meter pool.
Screenshot of foreign media reports.
How can such a person participate in the Olympic Games?
Musabani's Olympic journey was an accident. At that time, the IOC launched an Olympic development plan to allow athletes from underdeveloped countries and regions to participate in the Olympic Games. The small country of Central Africa, Equatorial Guinea, won a spot in the men's 100m freestyle for this.
When Equatorial Guinea recruited swimmers for the whole country, Musabani heard the news on the radio. According to foreign media reports, he was the only man to sign up at that time, and this quota naturally fell to him.
When he was told to represent Equatorial Guinea at the Sydney Olympics, Musmbani's brain went blank: Where is Australia? What is Sydney?
Instead of solving these questions, Musabani's most important thing is to improve his swimming skills. He is not a professional swimmer, he only began to swim after graduating from high school, and he did not receive professional training. The level of swimming is at best the degree of a few flutters in the water.
MusanBani training pool.
However, the Olympic Games still have 8 months to go, and practicing well may not be ugly.
However, due to the conditions, Musabani could only practice in the sea and in the river. The fisherman who went out to fish became his "enlightenment coach", teaching him the movements of his legs and hands, and most importantly: how not to drown in the sea.
Later, Musabani contacted a hotel with a 13-meter pool. He was allowed to use the pool between 5am and 6am every day, but only 3 days a week.
In this way, Musabani swam in this 13-meter pool for 8 months. With the Sydney Olympics approaching, the Equatorial Guinea delegation also set off for Australia. The delegation, along with Musabani, had four athletes who traveled to several countries over three days and finally reached Sydney.
Musmbani, who arrived at the Olympic Village, was shocked, and when he saw the pool where he was going to compete, he muttered, "Let me swim here, it will certainly not work." ”
Before the game, he trained with the American team. Musanbani took the opportunity to learn to imitate the movements of American swimmers. At that time, many people did not believe that this guy who did not even bring swimming trunks and swimming goggles was actually here to participate in the Olympic Games. After Musanbani explained the situation, he was helped by the South African coach.
Before departure, Equatorial Guinea did not prepare any equipment for Musabani. He had planned to go to the game in his underwear, just as he did when he was practicing. Once in Sydney, he went to a nearby shop to buy swim trunks and goggles. However, the equipment he bought himself did not meet the requirements. Finally, the South African coach gave him swimming trunks and goggles.
Musabani at the opening ceremony.
Just the day before the opening ceremony, the unexpected happened again. Staff in Equatorial Guinea informed him provisionally to serve as the flag bearer for the opening ceremony. Because of the 4 athletes, he is the tallest. Thus, at the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympic Games, spectators all over the world saw the flag bearer of Equatorial Guinea, sullenly walking in front, followed by a few athletes.
At that time, no one would have thought that 4 days later, this humble flag-raising boy would be remembered by the world.
The referee blew the opening whistle and Musabani jumped into the pool alone. Judging from the situation of the first 50 meters, his posture can barely be counted as the standard. But after turning back from the other side of the track, Musabani clearly felt physically weak: "I was so tired, I couldn't feel the presence of legs and hands. ”
Musabani in the game.
Musanbani's speed slowed down, and his movements began to deform. Almost instinctively, he shook his legs in the water and then "crawled" slowly forward like a turtle. Almost everyone in the audience sweated for him, and judging by Musabani's state, he was likely to drown or sink to the bottom.
With 15 meters left before the finish line, Musabani couldn't swim. But he was still in the water and heard cheers and applause from the audience. Later, he also admitted that it was these encouragements that allowed him to make it to the end.
1 minute 52.72 seconds, this is Musanbani's final result, and at that Olympic Games, the champion Hogan Bande only took 48.3 seconds to swim the whole course. According to the Associated Press, Musabani's result is the slowest record in Olympic history in the men's 100-meter freestyle event.
During Musanbani's match, "Flying Fish" Thorpe witnessed the whole process on the sidelines. He told reporters: "This is the true Olympic spirit. ”
Musabani after the game.
After the game, Musabani returned to his apartment in the Olympic Village and slept from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. When he woke up, he found that videos and photos of him had begun to be played on television; he had gone to a restaurant to eat, and someone had asked him for autographs and group photos. At that moment, he realized he was on fire. Audiences who liked him gave him a nickname: Eel.
Later, the goggles he used during the competition sold on second-hand websites for more than $4,000. He also received VIP treatment in Sydney – surfing on the beach, visiting the Sydney Harbour Bridge and a shop owner giving him a pair of tennis shoes.
The Olympic tour opened Musabani's eyes and made a splash in front of audiences all over the world. At that time, the "eel" began to look forward to the Athens Olympic Games.
After returning to Equatorial Guinea, Musabani was mentored by a professional swimming instructor, and by 2004 his record had improved to 56.9 seconds. But in the end, Musabani did not appear on the stage of the Athens Olympics. According to foreign media reports, this is because the administrative staff of Equatorial Guinea made a mistake in their work, and they could not find Musabani's passport photo, resulting in the "eel" finally not obtaining a visa. Musamba was frustrated by this: he had no way of showing his progress to the world.
But Musabani did not give up swimming. In 2006, at an invitational tournament in Germany, he swam a time of 52.18 seconds, a one-minute improvement over the Sydney Olympics.
Musangbani surfs in Sydney. Screenshot of foreign media reports.
Today, Musabani works for an oil company in Equatorial Guinea. At the same time, he is also the swimming coach of the national team. Because of his deeds, Equatorial Guinea later built two Olympic-standard swimming pools throughout the country, one in the capital Malabo and the other in Bata. If they go to the Olympics in the future, Equatorial Guinea's athletes will no longer be as scared as Musmbani.
Musabani's desire now is that his disciples will one day win an Olympic medal. In today's swimming world, everyone knows how difficult Musmbani's wish is to achieve, but as Coubertin said: "The most important thing in the Olympics is not victory, but fighting." ”
For the sake of the Olympic dream, Musabani, who is over 40 years old, has never stopped fighting. (Reporter Xing Rui)
Source: China-Singapore Sports WeChat public account