Swam 100 in 1:04:xx? Still beats 95% of slowtwitch.

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Long Chile was a silly place.

1:04.95

yup, i had the same thought

I think you are confusing two guys.

A guy swam 1:54 a few Olympics ago. He was from Equatorial Guinea. The other 2 guys in his heat false started. I think 8 months before he swam in the Olympics he couldn't swim. He trained in a dirty 15 meter pool.

This guy swam a 1:04. I highly doubt you can beat him. His dad might be president of the Olympic Committee in Ethiopia, but until the LA Times (or other new outlet) produces an athlete from Ethiopia who swims faster than a 1:04...

No chance I can beat 1:04.

I lose.

You're referring to "Eric the Eel" :). That was a great story!

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Long Chile was a silly place.

Eric actually got to be a pretty decent swimmer, eventually. Around 55 /56 secs for his 100

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

From age 17 to 35 I would have beat him handily.
It's good to see swimmers from non traditional countries in the Olympics, but that guy doesn't belong. He's no 1:52, but he doesn't belong.

99%.

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"Go yell at an M&M"

I would totally crush this guy.





Biking and running. ;-)


Just goes to show, great swimmers are always great swimmers, even if/when they're not in the best shape.

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float , hammer , and jog

The best swimmer on my HS team had a physique to match this dude. He went to the state meet 4 years straight and placed top 10 in several events. In the fly and IM, the guy that beat him set records.

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Take a short break from ST and read my blog:
http://tri-banter.blogspot.com/

Crushes me.

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Taco cat spelled backwards is....taco cat.

There are a bunch of 11-12 year old boys that would beat him. That time isn't even AAAA for that age group. That said, I like it. Good for him if Ethiopia didn't have anyone faster to send.

Surely, somebody knows somebody related to somebody that went to Stanford, etc. who could represent Ethiopia in swimming better than this guy. IMO, That his daddy leads the Ethiopian Swimming Federation only shows corrupt, crony bureaucracy and the Olympic movement at its worst. "Lead a federation, get a free trip", regardless of your skill level (or lack, thereof).

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DFL > DNF > DNS

That's not necessarily what it says.

In many small countries (and in swimming terms Ethiopia is a very very small country) the boards of the federations are made up of the parents of swimmers and former swimmers. They are volunteer positions, no glory. It is very likely that the dad is on the federation only because the son likes swimming, and the son could be the best they have to offer, in a country with no real swimming infrastructure.

Not saying that is definitely the case in Ethiopia, but before for vilify the guy, just have a little perspective.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

their national record is 1:01. Competitive swimming is not a sport there. They only have 3 events even recognized (lcm mens). The head of the their swimming program is not the same as usa swimming. A 1:01 is not getting you into stanford ir anywhere else

As always, you represent Canada well, by only looking for the best in people and being unfailingly nice ;-)

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DFL > DNF > DNS

Not only would he handily beat me, I also kind of look like him :)

He should spend a few weeks with the Ethiopian runners...

The swimmer in question holds their national record for the 50m free lcm at 27 seconds. They might not have anyone else

Holy crap, I had no idea. Where did he swim those times? That is quite an improvement over a couple of years.

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Long Chile was a silly place.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Moussambani

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

It's not really me looking for the best, it's just not assuming the worst.

I also have a little experience. I'm from Bermuda, at one time I was on the board of the cycling federation, and I swam for the country prior to taking up cycling. Bermuda is all of 60,000 people, and our swimming program dwarfs Ethiopia's. That's how the sports federations work in small countries, it's just the handful of people who have an interest in the sport keeping it going.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

It's okay Jason, we've adopted you as a Canadian... Whether you like it or not! LOL

I have dual citizenship. You've got me whether you want me or not!

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

We've kept worse, far worse. lol

Nope. He beats me in the water. Since he is an Ethopian, I am not taking bets on beating him in running either.

i've never raced 100LCM, but my per swim swam conversion calculator, my PB for 100f (SCY) of 56.95 converts to a 1:04.81. i'm not in PB shape right now, but it was less than 2 years ago.

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@adamwfurlong

I could beat him, At his age my 100m pb was 0:59.

The Equatorial Guinea swimmer is actually on youtube - it's a fun watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woYG6Uq6OVU

I'd rather see a real Ethiopian take the slot who swims slower than a faster guy who mainly lives in the US or elsewhere. I assume this guy lives and swim out of Ethiopia and if this is the best they have, then its awesome. Access to pools in poor countries is not easy. One of my friends is trying to develop triathlon and specifically Ironman racing in India and his biggest challenge is not athletic talent....no one knows how to swim because they don't have pool access. It's easy to get people training for the bike on the trainer, and running is no problem, but swim is a massive challenge and only something that the affluent can access. I would imagine pool access in Ethiopia is not really that widespread.

Sure! Just not in swimming. ;)

Guys like that make the Olympics cool, but on the other hand my daughter isn't much of a long course swimmer and she had been crushing those times since she was 14.

There is a really good chance if your daughter was growing up in Ethiopia, she would not be breaking those times in the pool. Isn't that the entire point. The best from each country meet whatever that is, provided the sport governing body will let them in.

In high school I could have easily beat him.

Now if I'm fresh and coming off a good taper he would probably beat me by a few seconds. I'm used to swimming short course and taking advantage of the speed boost I get of the walls.

FINA invited him to swim so I have no problems with him representing his country in the games. Maybe he will inspire other ethiopians to start swimming and someday they will have more competitive athletes in the games.

Correct. The reason that they allow athletes like this Ethiopian kid, or Eric the eel, into the Olympics is to grow the sport in their home countries. Eric moussambani went on to become the head coach of the Guinean national team, it's planting a seed for future athletes.

Back in Bermuda, we always seem to get one or 2 athletes to the games under Universality. It does serve as an inspiration for the younger athletes, if they work hard they might get a chance to represent the country as well, and eventually I am positive we will get athletes to the games purely on time standards rather than just hoping for an invitation.

I have a lot of issues with how FINA and the IOC are run, but this isn't one of them.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly