Unlikely Olympian ‘Eric the Eel’ reflects on his fame 20 years on | AFP

Twenty years ago, Eric ‘the Eel’ Moussambani became a global star after swimming a 100-meter freestyle alone in the Olympic pool in Sydney so slowly that it appeared he might sink. Moussambani was the first swimmer from Equatorial Guinea, a nation with a population at the time of less than 1 million, to compete in the Olympics. He describes his remarkable journey to sporting fame, an unlikely ending for someone who, in his own words, arrived in Sydney not knowing how to swim.