Although the Olympics are synonymous with competitiveness and desire to succeed, the sublime is occasionally complemented by the ridiculous, and at Sydney 2000 Eric "the Eel" Moussambani was the latter.
Equatorial Guinea’s 100m freestyle had only learned to swim only that January and had never seen a 50m pool before touching down in Australia.
A wildcard entry, he finished over a minute outside the Olympic record (1:52.72), but garnered worldwide fame thanks to his fish out of water antics.
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"The last 15 metres were very difficult," Moussambani said. It looked it.
In March this year however, he was appointed coach of Equatorial Guinea's national swimming squad.