If the Olympics shows us anything, it’s the immeasurable value of perseverance and co-operation, and few stories embody the Olympic spirit like that of Eric Moussambani, aka Eric the Eel.

In the run up to the 2000 Olympic games in Sydney, Equatorial Guinea put a call out for athletes to try out for its squad.

Among those who responded was the 22-year-old Eric Moussambani, who turned up for the trials for the swimming team.

I say ‘among those’, but in the end Eric made the team by default because he was the only man to actually turn up for the swimming trials alongside Paula Barila Bolopa, who competed in the women’s category.

There was one small problem though – Eric didn’t know how to swim properly.

Not only that, but Equatorial Guinea didn’t have the facilities for him to train.

The athlete recalled how he became an unlikely Olympic swimmer, saying: “I started swimming when I left school. We didn’t have a swimming pool.”

In the end, the budding olympian had to train in a small hotel pool around 13 metres long.

As for coaches? Forget about it, Eric trained by himself in the pool.

Eric sets off on his swim. (Simon Bruty /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)

He said: “I trained on my own and I had no swimming experience. The pool was only available from 5am to 6am and I was only able to train for three hours a week.”

Luckily, he was able to supplement this with swimming in rivers and the sea, assisted by some fishermen.

He recalled. “The fishermen would tell me how to use my legs and how to swim. There was nothing professional about it at all.”

So Eric turned up to the Sydney Olympics in 2000 having never even swam in a full-sized Olympic pool, which are 50 metres long.

He said: “I was scared by the sight of the first pool I’d be racing in.”

The swimmer also had to borrow a pair of trunks, given to him by the South African coach, as he had turned up in swimming shorts.

In a remarkable twist, the two other athletes in his heat were disqualified, meaning that Eric only had to complete the 100 metre swim to win his heat.

Eric celebrates after his 100m race. (Simon Bruty/Anychance/Getty Images)

His subsequent race was cheered on by the surrounding crowd.

On his second length it looked like he might not make it and have to grab the lane rope to avoid going under the water, but amid the cheers of spectators he finished the race.

He said: “I knew that the whole world was watching me – my family, my country, my mother, my sister and my friends. That’s why I was telling myself that I had to keep going, that I had to finish, even if I was alone in the pool. I wasn’t worried about the time. All I wanted to do was finish.”

In the end he clocked in a time of 1:52, but was not deterred.

After Sydney, Eric continued training and eventually got a personal best of 57 seconds – fast enough to have won him the gold in Helsinki in 1952.

Eric went on to become the coach for the Equatorial Guinea swimming team, and since his remarkable appearance the country has built two full sized Olympic swimming pools.

Olympics 2024 highlights – the biggest moments so far

Anthony Ammirati’s penis costs him his medal

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French athlete Anthony Ammirati failed the 5.70 height pole vault because of his asset. #IKYK #Paris2024

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The 21-year-old French pole vaulter attempted to clear the 5.70 metres on 3 August when his knee – along with his private parts – got in the way, shattering his Olympic dreams.

Iconic shooter Yusuf Dikec wins silver medal with ‘no equipment’

Yusuf Dikec became a viral sensation. (Eurosport)

Turkey’s Yusuf Dikec took a laid back approach when he was spotted looking incredibly relaxed with one hand in his pocket and without any shooting gear on.

It all paid off though as he took home the silver along with his partner Sevval Ilayda Tarhan.

Noah Lyles’ 100m victory

He set a personal best (Eurosport)

Setting a new personal best, Lyles came out on top at the finish line by a margin of just 0.005 seconds, with a final time of 9.784.

The final also marked the fastest race of all time, with all eight athletes crossing the finish line in under 10 seconds.

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Everyone’s timeline needs a cleanse and it doesn’t get cleansier than Snoop Dogg dancing for a horse at the Olympics:

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Snoop went viral after he rocked up to the dressage team Grand Prix Special fully kitted out in breeches, a dressage tailcoat and hard hat alongside pal Martha Stewart. Iconic.

Ana Carolina Vieira gets sent home for breaking athletes’ village rules with boyfriend

The swimmer was sent home after her actions. (Instagram/_anavieeiraa)

Ana Carolina Vieira was sent home after she and her boyfriend Gabriel Santos – also a swimmer competing in the Olympics – left the village without permission, which is against the Olympic Village rules.

Team GB star becomes first ever Olympian to win medal in both male and female events

Henry Fieldman (bottom left) made history. (henryfieldman/Instagram)

Coxswain Henry Fieldman made history when he won bronze at the women’s crews event off the back of his bronze win in Tokyo on the men’s team.

Fieldman was able to achieve the feat because of a rule change back in 2017 that allows coxes of either gender to steer the eights.

The River Seine drama

Tyler Mislawchuk threw up after his race (BBC)

While Canada’s Tyler Mislawchuk vomited after swimming in the river, Belgian triathlete Jolien Vermeylen admitted she ‘felt and saw things that we shouldn’t think about too much’.

It came after health concerns were raised over the pollution levels in the river, with the country splashing out a cool £1.18 billion on cleaning it up in time for the games.

Freddie Crittenden jogs for entire race on purpose

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What was bro doing @ 🇺🇸Freddie Crittenden must be mad at something #GOLD #ParisOlympics2024

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The Team USA star purposely put on a leisurely performance in his first heat of the Men’s 110m hurdles and ended up being the last one to make it across the finish line with a time of 18.27 seconds.

The athlete said it was a calculated move to avoid aggravating a sore muscle in his leg and due to the introduction of repechage rounds, he knew that he’d have another chance at glory.

‘Slow pool’ accusations

The pool at the Paris La Défense Arena is 2.15 metres deep which is short of the minimum of 2.5 metres that World Aquatics recommends for an Olympic competition, prompting backlash from viewers.

As a result of the difference in depth, an issue called ‘slow’ swimming is created where the water is more volatile when dispersed than in a deeper pool.

Imane Khelif’s opponent quits boxing match 46 seconds in

Italy’s Angela Carini has since apologised (Eurosport)

The Algerian boxer faced Italy’s Angela Carini in the round of 16 match on 1 August when Carini – who has since apologised – decided to abandon the match after 46 seconds.

Khelif – who was born and raised a girl – was disqualified from last year’s Women’s World Boxing Championships in New Delhi amid claims from the International Boxing Association that she was not able to meet their unspecified eligibility criteria.

Khelif has since been at the centre of a gender row, and has urged people to ‘refrain from bullying all athletes’ amid abuse online.

Luana Alonso ‘kicked out’ of Olympic Village

Luana Alonso took to social media to break her silence (Instagram/@luanalonsom)

The Paraguayan swimmer was said to have been asked to leave the village amid accusations of creating an ‘inappropriate environment’, according to a statement from her team.

Alonso – who also announced her retirement from the sport – has since denied the claims and urged people to ‘stop spreading false information’.

Gold medal winner Thomas Ceccon spotted sleeping in park amid village complaints

Ceccon having a cheeky snooze. (Instagram)

The athlete, who won gold in the men’s 100m backstroke, was spotted taking a nap outside by Saudi rower Husein Alireza who posted it to his Instagram account, tagging the spot as a location within the official Olympic Village.

Speaking about his accommodation, Ceccon said: “It’s hard to sleep both at night and in the afternoon. Usually, when I’m at home, I always sleep in the afternoon. Here I really struggle between the heat and the noise.”

Steven van de Velde booed while making his Olympic debut

Steven van de Velde is a convicted child rapist (Eurosport)

The convicted child rapist was booed as he competed in the preliminary phase of the beach volleyball men’s tournament at the start of the games last month.

In 2016, Van de Velde was sentenced to four years in prison after admitting three counts of rape against a 12-year-old girl in August 2014, with many furious that he has been allowed to compete in the Olympics.

An Olympic athlete who looked set to snag a bronze medal after finishing third ended up being disqualified from her race entirely due to a little-known rule.

At the end of her participation the 200m medley, it seemed that US swimmer Alex Walsh would be going home with a medal.

But instead of the Olympic podium, Walsh ended up disqualified after the race was reviewed by judges, leaving many people baffled.

The medley event is different from other swimming races in that it is not confined to just one stroke.

While breaststroke, backstroke, freestyle (or ‘front crawl’), and butterfly have separate events, the medley sees swimmers using multiple strokes.

There are specific rules about how swimmers make the transition from one stroke to another while in the pool, in part to avoid competitors using a faster stroke more.

But there is one transition in particular which is technically very difficult for swimmers to achieve.

This is the one from the backstroke to the breaststroke, because it involves switching from facing up to facing down in the water.

Walsh, centre, competes in the heats for the 200m women’s medley. (Adam Pretty/Getty Images)

Making turns at the end of the pool is also a critical point in a swimming race, as a sloppy or smooth turn could mean the difference between victory and defeat.

So it’s already a particularly high pressure moment in the race even before you factor in the rules around turning in the medley.

And this is where judges found that Walsh had broken the rules, which state that when doing backstroke ‘the swimmer must touch the wall while on the back’.

Unfortunately for US athlete Walsh, when she touched the wall during her race she had already switched over to face downwards in the pool.

This meant that she had broken the rule, and was disqualified as a result.

Swimmers can turn their bodies up to 90 degrees when they make the transition, but any more than that is not allowed.

Walsh reacts after the competition. (OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images)

Rules around turning are not the only ones which swimmers have to watch out for during their competitions.

Another rule is about the ‘dolphin kick’ – that undulating motion you see swimmers do immediately after diving in at the start of a race.

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Dolphin kick is physically and technically challenging to master, but it is also an exceptionally fast and efficient way to move underwater.

So fast in fact that in most strokes swimmers are only allowed to use it for 15 metres in the pool before they must surface and switch to the main stroke.

They can also only use a limited number of the kicks when making a turn, or potentially face disqualification.

In Paris, team GB swimmer Luke Greenbank was disqualified after breaking this very rule.

While the Olympics is known for incredible sporting feats, there seems to have been just as many surprises outside of the events.

Paraguayan swimmer Luana Alonso was reportedly asked to leave the Olympic Village by her team and go home in a surprising turn of events.

The swimmer currently holds Paraguayan records in the 50m, 100m and 200m Butterfly events, however, she had an underwhelming run at the Olympic Games this year.

Team Paraguay (COP) issued a statement saying Alonso had created an ‘inappropriate environment’ but did not go into further details about what that meant.

Larissa Schaerer, the head of the COP, said: “Her presence is creating an inappropriate atmosphere within Team Paraguay.

Luana Alonso had a disappointing run in her events at this year’s Olympics. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

“We thank her for proceeding as instructed, as it was of her own free will that she did not spend the night in the Athletes’ Village.”

Alonso hasn’t given much more information about the whole drama herself but her Instagram page shows the 20-year-old has since returned to US, where she is studying at a university in Dallas, Texas.

Alonso admitted she isn’t yet ready to issue an official statement about what occurred but has taken to social media to address the ‘lies’ that have begun circulating since her departure.

She wrote: “I just wanted to clarify that I was never kicked out or expelled from anywhere, please stop spreading false information.

“I don’t want to make any statement but I’m not going to let lies affect me either.”

Alonso also announced that she would retiring from swimming but insisted it had nothing to do with her performance at this year’s games.

The athlete went out of the games after finishing sixth in the Women’s 100m Butterfly heats and failed to qualify for the semi-finals with her time of 1:03.09 – three seconds below her personal best.

Alonso took to Instagram to dispel the ‘lies’. (Instagram/@luanalonsom)

On her retirement, the swimmer said: “It’s official now! I’m retiring from swimming, thank you all so much for the support! Sorry Paraguay, I only have to thank you.

“Swimming: thank you for allowing me to dream, you taught me to fight, to try, perseverance, sacrifice, discipline and many more.

“I gave you part of my life and I don’t change it for anything in the world because I lived the best experiences of my life, you gave me thousands of joys, friends from other countries that I will always carry them in my heart, unique opportunities.

“It’s not goodbye, it’s see you soon.”

UNILAD has previously contacted POC and Alonso for comment.

Team USA’s current medal count – 79

Gold medalists

• Lee Kiefer: Fencing – Women’s individual foil
• Torri Huske: Swimming – Women’s 100m butterfly
• Jack Alexj, Chris Guiliano, Hunter Armstrong, Caeleb Dressel, Ryan Held, Matt King: Swimming – Men’s 4x100m freestyle
• Simone Biles, Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey, Hezly Rivera: Artistic Gymnastics – Women’s team competition
• Katie Ledecky: Swimming – Women’s 1500m freestyle
• Nick Mead, Justin Best, Michael Grady and Liam Corrigan: Rowing – Men’s coxless four
• Jacqueline Dubrovich, Lee Kiefer, Lauren Scruggs, Maia Mei Weintraub – Fencing: Women’s foil team
• Simone Biles: Artistic Gymnastics – Women’s individual all-around
• Kate Douglass: Swimming – Women’s 200m breaststroke
• Simone Biles: Artistic Gymnastics – Women’s vault
• Vincent Hancock: Shooting – Men’s skeet
• Ryan Crouser: Athletics – Men’s shot put
• Katie Ledecky: Swimming – Women’s 800m freestyle
• Nic Fink, Torri Huske, Ryan Murphy, Gretchen Walsh: Swimming – Mixed 4x100m medley relay
• Bobby Finke: Swimming – Men’s 1500m freestyle
• Kristen Faulkner: Cycling – Women’s road race
• Scottie Scheffler: Golf – Men’s individual stroke play
• Noah Lyles: Athletics – Men’s 100m
• Regan Smith, Lilly King, Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske: Swimming – Women’s 4x100m medley relay
• Valarie Allman: Athletics – Women’s discus throw
• Caroline Marks: Surfing – Women’s Shortboard

Silver medalists

• Nic Fink: Swimming – Men’s 100m breaststroke
• Lauren Scruggs: Fencing – Women’s individual foil
• Gretchen Walsh: Swimming – Women’s 100m butterfly
• Haley Batten: Mountain Bike – Women’s cross country
• Kate Douglass, Gretchen Walsh. Torri Huske, Simone Manuel, Erika Connolly, Abbey Weitzel: Swimming – Women’s 4x100m freestyle
• Sarah Bacon and Kassidy Cook: Diving – Women’s springboard 3m synchronised
• Katie Grimes: Swimming – Women’s 400m individual medley
• Jagger Eaton: Skateboarding – Men’s street
• Regan Smith: Swimming – Women’s 100m backstroke
• Bobby Finke: Swimming – Men’s 800m freestyle
• Carson Foster, Brooks Curry, Chris Guiliano, Luke Hobson, Drew Kibler, Blake Pieroni, Kieran Smith: Swimming – Men, 4x200m freestyle
• Perris Benegas: Cycling – Women’s BMX freestyle
• Torri Huske: Swimming – Women’s 100m freestyle
• Regan Smith: Swimming – Women’s 200m butterfly
• Erin Gemell, Katie Ledecky, Paige Madden, Simone Manuel, Anna Peplowski, Alex Shackell, Claire Weinstein: Swimming – Women’s 4x200m freestyle
• Karl Cook, Laura Kraut, McLain Ward: Equestrian – Jumping team
• Sagen Maddalena: Shooting – Women, 50m rifle 3 positions
• Regan Smith: Swimming – Women’s 200m backstroke
• Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram: Tennis – Men’s doubles
• Conner Prince: Shooting – Men’s skeet
• Joe Kovacs: Athletics – Men’s shot put
• Kaylyn Brown, Bryce Deadmon, Shamier Little, Vernon Norwood: Athletics – 4x400m relay mixed
• Sha’Carri Richardson: Athletics – Women’s 100m
• Kate Douglass: Swimming – Women’s 200m individual medley
• Brady Ellison: Archery: Men’s individual
• Hunter Armstrong, Caeleb Dressel, Nic Fink, Ryan Murphy: Swimming – Men’s 4x100m medley relay
• Seth Rider, Taylor Spivey, Morgan Pearson and Taylor Knibb: Triathlon – Mixed relay
• Simone Biles: Artistic Gymnastics – Women’s floor exercise
• Sam Kendricks: Athletics – Men’s pole vault
• Vincent Hancock and Jewell Austen Smith: Shooting – Mixed team skeet

Bronze medalists

• Carson Foster: Swimming – Men’s 400m individual medley
• Katie Ledecky: Swimming – Women’s 400m freestyle
• Chloe Dygert: Cycling – Women’s individual time trial
• Frederick Richard, Brody Malone, Stephen Nedoroscik, Paul Juda, Asher Hong: Artistic Gymnastics – Men’s team competition
• Nick Itkin: Fencing – Men’s foil individual
• Emma Weyant: Swimming – Women’s 400m individual medley
• Ryan Murphy: Swimming – Men’s 100m backstroke
• Luke Hobson: Swimming – Men’s 200m freestyle
• Nyjah Huston: Skateboarding – Men’s street
• Ilona Maher, Kayla Canett, Lauren Doyle, Alev Kelter, Kristi Kirshe, Sarah Levy, Alena Olsen, Ariana Ramsey, Steph Rovetti, Alex Sedrick, Sammy Sullivan, Naya Tapper: Rugby 7s – Women’s team competition
• Katharine Berkoff: Swimming – Women’s 100m backstroke
• Evy Leibfarth: Canoe slalom – Women’s Canoe Single
• Suni Lee: Artistic Gymnastics – Women’s individual all-around
• Casey Kaufhold, Brady Ellison: Archery – Mixed Team
• Grant Fisher: Athletics – Men’s 10,000m
• Ian Barrows and Hans Henken: Sailing – Men’s skiff
• Henry Hollingsworth, Nick Rusher, Christian Tabash, Clark Dean, Chris Carlson, Peter Chatain, Evan Olson, Pieter Quinton: Rowing – Men’s eight
• Stephen Nedoroscik: Gymnastics – Men’s pommel horse
• Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul: Tennis – Men’s doubles
• Jade Carey: Artistic Gymnastics – Women’s vault
• Jasmine Moore: Athletics – Women’s triple jump
• Melissa Jefferson: Athletics – Women’s 100m
• Paige Madden: Swimming – Women’s 800m freestyle
• Suni Lee: Artistic Gymnastics – Women’s uneven bars
• Austen Jewell Smith: Shooting – Women’s skeet
• Fred Kerley: Athletics – Men’s 100m
• Jordan Chiles: Artistic Gymnastics – Women’s floor exercise
• Cierra Burdick, Dearica Hamby, Rhyne Howard, Hailey van Lith: 3×3 basketball – Women’s competition

In a moment that seemed to be straight out of a nightmare, a British swimmer learnt they were disqualified seconds after thinking they had won and secured their spot in the final race.

Even getting to the Olympics is an achievement in itself, but many athletes are rarely happy with this accomplishment unless they secure their place on the podium.

They have to make sure they’re both mentally and physically ready for the mammoth task as one successful moment could change their lives.

British swimmer Luke Greenbank was hoping secure a spot in the semi-finals in the men’s 200m backstroke earlier this week, but it seems this year it just wasn’t meant to be… despite it very almost being so.

Team GB swimmer Luke Greenbank. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Despite being a top contender for the event, and even coming first in the heat and beating out his competition by a clear margin, Greenbank was disqualified.

After thinking he’d secured his spot in the semi-final race, the Olympian soon realized what had happened when he looked up at the results board in a crushing moment.

He put his head in his hands and dropped to the floor upon realizing he’d been disqualified, with Australian swimming legend Ian Thorpe saying it was obvious just ‘how devastated’ the athlete was.

Speaking after the decision, Greenbank said: “I don’t know what to say, absolutely gutted. It’s really annoying, I feel like I’m on good form.”

The Team GB swimmer was clearly devastated upon realizing he’d been disqualified. (BBC)

But what rule did Greenbank exactly break?

Footage of the race showed that after the 15-metre mark, Greenbank was still underwater.

A swimmer must break the water and have part of themselves above the surface by the time they reach 15 meters, and they have to do this for each lap they take.

For viewers there is a red marker that makes it clear which athletes have broken the rule.

After seeing himself be disqualified, an instant replay allowed Greenbank to see that he was still underwater by the marker, leaving no grounds for an appeal.

Fans praised Greenbank for his effort, despite the disqualification. (Adam Nurkiewicz/Getty Images)

The 15-meter rule is applied in backstroke, butterfly, and freestyle events but not in breaststroke.

On social media, fans couldn’t help but feel for the world class athlete and this unfortunate turn of events.

“Argh! That’s a nasty hit for us. Feel for Luke. One of the nicest people you would ever wish to meet!” one Twitter user wrote.

“Ugh, watching Luke Greenbank get disqualified in the Olympic semifinals is heart wrenching.”

“Oh no, Luke Greenbank of Great Britain just swam the fastest time of the morning in the 200 back but got DQ’d.

The photographer behind the stunning image of Brazilian surfer Gabriel Medina has revealed how he captured the shot.

It’s a photo which could become one of the defining images of the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Ironically, the image was taken nearly 10,000 miles from where the games were unfolding in Paris on a reef in French Polynesia.

There, the surfing was heating up with competitors taking to the waves to vie for the podium at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on July 29.

It depicts surfer Gabriel Medina from São Sebastião in the Brazilian state of São Paulo.

Three-time world champion Medina is celebrating after catching a huge wave rolling into the beach which sent him flying through the air.

The surfer’s posture is nothing like you might expect for someone flying through the air above the ocean, though.

Gabriel Medina celebrates a wave at the 2024 Olympics. (JEROME BROUILLET/AFP via Getty Images)

Instead, Medina almost looks like he is casually strolling down the street and waving to a friend, but suspended in mid-air.

Adding to the peculiar image is his surfboard mimicking his pose while attached to his left ankle by a cord, which runs almost perfectly horizontally.

The picture was snapped by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet from an observation boat.

And as with many shots like this one it takes a lot of skill, and a bit of luck.

Brouillet told The Guardian: “The conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected.”

He continued: “So he [Medina] is at the back of the wave and I can’t see him and then he pops up and I took four pictures and one of them was this one.

“It was not hard to take the picture. It was more about anticipating the moment and where Gabriel will kick off the wave.”

Medina riding a barrel wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti. (JEROME BROUILLET/AFP via Getty Images)

Brouillet also had the knowledge to anticipate that Medina often does a celebration like that after a big wave.

His camera was beaming his pictures directly to the news desk as he was taking them, giving him a shock when he checked his phone.

He said: “I was just checking my phone on the six-minute break after the shoot and I had lots of notifications on social media and I thought something is happening with this shot and it was shared on ESPN and I thought: ‘cool’.”

But despite that, Brouillet remained modest about his work, saying: “It’s very cool, it’s a nice shot and lots of people love it. It’s not really a surf photograph so it captures the attention of more people.”

He added: “I got the shot of the day, I was with six talented photographers on the boat and for sure everyone will forget about it next week. Tomorrow won’t be any different.”