00:00His lungs were burning, his arms and legs aching, and he was close to drowning in the middle of the
00:04pool in front of 17,000 people.
00:07He could barely swim, let alone compete.
00:09So how did this guy even make it to the Olympics?
00:12Well, in the lead-up to the Sydney Games in 2000, in a bid to encourage all countries, including developing
00:17nations, to participate in the Games,
00:20the International Olympic Committee offered Equatorial Guinea a wildcard entry for swimming.
00:25The country established their own brand-new swimming federation, and they put out a call,
00:28asking anyone who knew how to swim to come to a hotel in the capital city of Malibu for a
00:34tryout.
00:34Eric Musambini was one of only two people who showed up.
00:38So, after flopping around in the hotel pool for a couple minutes without sinking,
00:42Eric was accepted into the team, and just like that, he was on his way to the Sydney 2000 Olympics
00:47in Australia,
00:48a country he'd never even heard of before.
00:50But as the Olympics approached, and he finally arrived at the pool in Sydney, and saw how big it was,
00:55he nearly shit himself.
00:56See, Eric had practiced in the lead-up to the Games using the hotel's 13-metre pool,
01:01and by his own measurements, he was able to swim the full length of the 50-metre freestyle without stopping.
01:07But this pool was way bigger than he expected.
01:09He asked the officials how long it was, and they told him 50 metres.
01:13Eric was a little confused.
01:14He was told that he had to swim all the way to the end of the pool and back, but
01:18that would be 100 metres.
01:20He double-checked the event he was in, and that's when he really started to panic.
01:24Eric had been mistakenly entered into the 100-metre freestyle, not the 50.
01:28He was in trouble.
01:30Over the next few days, Eric nervously watched the other team's practice, asking questions and trying to learn as much
01:35as he could.
01:36Most of the other swimmers ignored him, but when a South African coach noticed Eric struggling in the pool,
01:41wearing a pair of non-regulation board shorts and no goggles, he took Eric under his wing,
01:46giving him the gear he needed and some last-minute guidance.
01:49When the day of Eric's heat arrived, he stepped onto the starting block with his hands shaking so much,
01:55he could barely even get his goggles on.
01:57He waited for the starting beep, and then suddenly, there was a splash.
02:01The other two swimmers in his heat had false started, and now, with both of those swimmers disqualified,
02:06Eric was left to swim the 100 metres completely alone in front of the massive Sydney crowd.
02:12The starting beep sounded.
02:13Eric dove in and powered through the first 50 metres with everything he had.
02:17But as he made the turn, and the lactic acid flooded his muscles, and the exhaustion overwhelmed him,
02:22he felt himself sinking.
02:24His paddling became sluggish and uncoordinated, and he was embarrassed, convinced the world was laughing at him.
02:29But as he listened to the Aussie crowd, he realised they weren't laughing.
02:32They were on their feet, cheering.
02:34He struggled alongside the lane rope, every instinct telling him to grab it and save himself from drowning.
02:39But he knew touching it would mean instant disqualification.
02:42So, he pushed on.
02:43And finally, after 1 minute and 52.72 seconds, Eric touched the wall, winning his heat with the slowest 100
02:50metre freestyle in Olympic history.
Comments