Hail Eric, the accidental hero

Moussambani mania swept through the Olympics yesterday as the swimmer from Equatorial Guinea, who won his 100 metres freestyle heat in record slow time, became the most sought after athlete at the games.

Eric Moussambani, aged 22, has become the most high-profile Olympian in Sydney for being a heroic failure. The African swimmer won his heat in 1min 52.72sec, the slowest time for the 100 metres freestyle in the history of the games and more than double the world record time of 48.18sec, and at times barely managed to keep his head above water.

He won only because the two other swimmers in the race were disqualified for false starts. He finished well outside the qualifying time of 1min 10sec but said: "They should let me back into the event because I did win my heat."

Yesterday he gave more than 100 interviews to the world's media and was presented with a bodysuit by the swimwear company Speedo and a medal by a British tabloid.

A German television crew took him on a cruise around Sydney harbour and he was featured as the main item on the American television channel NBC's Olympic coverage, which is shown across the country.

"I really do not understand what all the fuss is about because I have not won anything," he said. "But I am very happy that everybody now knows my country. I was very tired in the pool but the Olympic spirit meant that I had to finish the race.

"My muscles were hurting. I had never been in a pool that big before, I was very scared. I feel as if I have won a gold medal.

"Many people thought that I would not be able to finish the race. I would have been ashamed had I not been able to finish. I would not have been able to live with myself."

Moussambani, who is unemployed, had never before swum in a 50-metre Olympic-size pool; he usually trains in a 20-metre pool, the only one of its kind in Equatorial Guinea, and at weekends he swims in a river, which according to his teammates is sometimes visited by crocodiles.

He said that he hoped the world would not forget him once the Games were over. "I would like somebody to sponsor me and pay for a coach. It is all very well doing these interviews and having all this publicity but it will not be worth anything if nobody is willing to help me."

At the athletes' village yesterday a giant flag draped outside the residence of the Equatorial Guinea team declared: "Eric the swimmer lives here."