He’s My Kind of Hero

P.O Box 1540, Albany Western Australia 6331
Phone/Fax: (08) 98 418 418
E-mail: abl-alb@omninet.net.au

He’s My Kind of Hero
Friends, every Olympic Games seems to produce a shining and marketable champion - and sometimes an even more wonderful anti-hero. That was certainly the case in the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics. In the spirit of Britain’s Eddie “The Eagle” Edwards of the 1988 Calgary Games, newspapers and television have heralded the exploits of Eric “The Eel” Moussambini. Eric is a 23-year-old student from Equatorial Guinea, Western Africa. With a national population of 400,000 Equatorial Guinea formed its swimming federation just a few years ago and was able to send Eric to the 2000 Olympics under a special program that permits poorer countries to participate even though their athletes don’t meet customary standards. The Equatorial Guinea Federation has only two pools to use for training - both at hotels and both much shorter than they Olympic standard of 30 metres. “I must have a ticket to get into the hotel,” Eric explained. Thus his “training” consisted of three one-hour practices a week in a hotel pool. Hotel workers sometimes made it hard for him to practice. He only took up the sport eight months before the Sydney Olympic Games commenced. On Tuesday, September 19, 2000, Eric was poised to swim in his qualifying heat for the 100 metre freestyle. The starts gun sounded, and the two other swimmers in his heat were disqualified for hitting the water too quickly. Now Eric would have to swim alone in a one-man race against himself. Eric Moussambani was, to use the words of an Associated Press story about his race, “charmingly inept.” He never put his head under the water’s surface. And with ten metres left to the wall, he virtually came to a stop. Some spectators thought he actually might drown! His time was a dismal 1.52.72 - more than twice the time it took our own Australian hero Ian Thorpe to swim his 100 metres. But Eric’s a hero by anyone’s standards. He went to the Olympic Games and competed against the world’s best. And thought he wasn’t in the same class as other swimmers involved, he won the hearts of millions simply by finishing the race. Ian Thorpe’s comments of Eric Moussambani are worth remembering by every one of us: “That’s what the Olympics are all about!” “I never swam the 100 metres before,” Eric said. “All the clapping and all those voices making noise helped me finish.” Friends, if any of you are discouraged today, just take a moment to stop and listen to the cheers of the great cloud of witnesses urging you on. God’s own voice is in the chorus. You don’t have to pace the field. You don’t have to out-duel anyone. Just finish your race. If you would like to live a more successful life, just write to me for your FREE copy of “THE SUCCESS PLAN.” Email me or write to me at P.O Box 1540, Albany W.A 6331. Telephone / Fax (08) 98 418 418

Friends, every Olympic Games seems to produce a shining and marketable champion - and sometimes an even more wonderful anti-hero. That was certainly the case in the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics. In the spirit of Britain’s Eddie “The Eagle” Edwards of the 1988 Calgary Games, newspapers and television have heralded the exploits of Eric “The Eel” Moussambini.

Eric is a 23-year-old student from Equatorial Guinea, Western Africa. With a national population of 400,000 Equatorial Guinea formed its swimming federation just a few years ago and was able to send Eric to the 2000 Olympics under a special program that permits poorer countries to participate even though their athletes don’t meet customary standards.

The Equatorial Guinea Federation has only two pools to use for training - both at hotels and both much shorter than they Olympic standard of 30 metres. “I must have a ticket to get into the hotel,” Eric explained. Thus his “training” consisted of three one-hour practices a week in a hotel pool. Hotel workers sometimes made it hard for him to practice. He only took up the sport eight months before the Sydney Olympic Games commenced.

On Tuesday, September 19, 2000, Eric was poised to swim in his qualifying heat for the 100 metre freestyle. The starts gun sounded, and the two other swimmers in his heat were disqualified for hitting the water too quickly. Now Eric would have to swim alone in a one-man race against himself.

Eric Moussambani was, to use the words of an Associated Press story about his race, “charmingly inept.” He never put his head under the water’s surface. And with ten metres left to the wall, he virtually came to a stop. Some spectators thought he actually might drown! His time was a dismal 1.52.72 - more than twice the time it took our own Australian hero Ian Thorpe to swim his 100 metres.

But Eric’s a hero by anyone’s standards. He went to the Olympic Games and competed against the world’s best. And thought he wasn’t in the same class as other swimmers involved, he won the hearts of millions simply by finishing the race. Ian Thorpe’s comments of Eric Moussambani are worth remembering by every one of us: “That’s what the Olympics are all about!”

“I never swam the 100 metres before,” Eric said. “All the clapping and all those voices making noise helped me finish.”

Friends, if any of you are discouraged today, just take a moment to stop and listen to the cheers of the great cloud of witnesses urging you on. God’s own voice is in the chorus. You don’t have to pace the field. You don’t have to out-duel anyone. Just finish your race.

If you would like to live a more successful life, just write to me for your FREE copy of “THE SUCCESS PLAN.”

Email me
or write to me at
P.O Box 1540,
Albany W.A 6331.

Telephone / Fax (08) 98 418 418