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Peter Scrivener

Olympic countdown - 65 - Moussambani's moment


Equatorial Guinea swimmer Eric Moussambani at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney

Everybody loves a no-hoper in Olympic competition, don't they?

I know I do. I cheered every successful landing made by British ski jumper Eddie 'the Eagle' Edwards at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary.

And I will never forget the stunning swim of Eric 'the Eel' Moussambani at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

But it was that performance by Moussambani that prompted International Olympic Committee boss Jacques Rogge to declare that he wanted to stop inept athletes from competing because he believes they are making a mockery of the competition.

Far from it Mr Rogge, I say. It does completely the opposite. It is performances such as Moussambani's that inspire and give hope to athletes who are not fortunate enough to have access to top quality training facilities.

I remember the pictures of Edwards training in his backyard on a homemade contraption, while Moussambani reportedly kept the crocodiles in the river company before he was given access to Equatorial Guinea's only pool, which was just 20m long.

Surely that is what the Olympic spirit of "it's not the winning, but the taking part" is all about.

The fact that Moussambani swam the 100m freestyle in one minute 52.72 seconds, 65 seconds slower than Dutch gold medallist Pieter van den Hoogenband's world record 47.84 seconds, is irrelevant.

What matters is that he gave it a go and he received a standing ovation from the supporters in the stands who clearly appreciated his efforts.

Where do you stand on the debate? Would you like to see more plucky no-hopers at the Olympics?

Peter Scrivener is a BBC Sport Journalist. Our FAQs should answer any questions you have.


Comments

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  • 1. At 12:09pm on 04 Jun 2008, phasla wrote:

    If we were to remove "no-hopers" from the Olympics, why not have all the heats beforehand and just have a weekend of finals.

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  • 2. At 7:28pm on 04 Jun 2008, ShinyRandomName wrote:

    Rogge should have been removed from his position immediately after making such a demand. It's stories like this that make Olympics remembered long after the winners are just entries in some statistical database.

    More power to the hopeless!

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  • 3. At 03:54am on 05 Jun 2008, ZappasOrg wrote:

    Regarding Baron Pierre de Coubertin's most misquoted quote. Isn't it strange that the International Olympic Committee quotes it but doesn't live by the standard.

    In the race to found the Modern Olympic Games, the Baron didn't come first, he was preceded by Evangelis Zappas (first modern international Olympic Games in 1859) and Dr William Penny Brookes (first national Olympic Games to be held outside of Greece in 1866). Then again by Evangelis Zappas (first modern international Olympic Games to be held in a stadium in 1870).

    Unfortunately, the International Olympic Committee seems to think that taking part isn't good enough, and that coming first is all important since it continues to maintain that Baron Pierre de Coubertin is THE founder of the Modern Olympic Games.

    Yours faithfully,
    Mike Pagomenos
    Founder of Zappas.org
    www.zappas.org
    Member of the International Society of Olympic Historians

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  • 4. At 7:57pm on 08 Jun 2008, supersubag wrote:

    The whole point of the Olympics is that the athletes are "amateur" (this is most evident in sports like boxing, where successful fighters often only compete at one Olympics before turning pro).

    Every country has a right to represent themselves in Olympic sports, and disqualifying people because they are leagues behind the top-class athletes from more privileged backgrounds would simply kill the spirit of the Olympic Games.

    It is also good to see that Oscar Pistorius has been cleared to compete with able-bodied athletes, despite the IOC's original ruling based on unfounded allegations of unfair advantage. I really hope he can make it through the trials, as I would love to see him compete in Beijing.

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