Soms moet je niet goed zijn in een sport om naar de Olympische Spelen te mogen. Het volstaat al als je de beste (of de enige) van je land bent om afgevaardigd te kunnen worden...
Hierdoor ontstaan soms hilarische taferelen natuurlijk. Nog grappiger is de bijnamen die de mensen in kwestie dan krijgen aangemeten... :p
Ook de back stories erbij vind ik interessant, en soms zielig :(
Eric "The Eel" Moussambani:
YouTube
Moussambani gained entry to the Olympics without meeting the minimum qualification requirements via a wildcard draw designed to encourage developing countries without expensive training facilities to participate. While Pieter van den Hoogenband set a world record of 47.84 seconds to win the gold medal, Moussambani splashed his way to the finish to the cheers of the crowd in slightly more than twice that time (1:52.72). "The last 15 metres were very difficult," Moussambani said. However, because the other two swimmers in his heat false-started, and were thus disqualified, he won the heat. Before coming to the Olympics, Moussambani had never seen a 50 m (160 ft) long Olympic-size swimming pool. He took up swimming only eight months before the Olympics and had practiced in a 20 m (66 ft) pool[2] at a hotel in Malabo.
Moussambani was denied entry into the 2004 Olympic Games due to a visa bungle,[6] despite the vast improvement in his swimming over the previous four years, with his personal best down to under 57 seconds.
Wikipedia
Trevor "The Tortoise" Misipeka:
YouTube
He is chiefly known for his performance in the 100 metres in the 2001 World Athletics Championships, held in Edmonton, Canada. He represented American Samoa and had originally intended to compete in the shotput, but the Samoan federation discovered that the IAAF's policy of allowing competitors from small countries to enter without meeting qualifying standards had recently been changed, and now applied only to track events and not field ones.
Having already arrived at the championships, he was told by the Samoan federation with just two days notice that he was instead being entered for the 100 metres. Weighing over 133 kg (290 lb), he unsurprisingly finished last in his heat, recording a time of 14.28 seconds, nearly four seconds behind the winner Kim Collins. It was one of the slowest times ever seen in the World Championships.
Wikipedia
Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards:
YouTube
A good downhill skier, he narrowly missed out on the GB team for that event for the 1984 Games. To improve his chances to qualify for 1988, he moved to Lake Placid in the US to train and enter races of a higher standard; however, he soon found himself short on funds. To realize his Olympic dream he decided to switch to ski jumping for reasons of cost and easier qualification with no other competing British ski jumpers.
Wikipedia
Nog voorbeelden;
Hamadou Djibo Issaka ("Issaka the Otter", "Hamadou The Keel," "Sculling Sloth"):
YouTube
Wikipedia
Stany Kempompo Ngangola ("Stany The Snail", "Stany the Stingray"):
Wikipedia
Elis Lapenmal:
Wikipedia
Hamse Abdouh:
Wikipedia
Petero Okotai:
Wikipedia
Met alle respect voor de mensen in kwestie natuurlijk!
Misschien moet ik voor 2016 ook eens een sport zoeken en naar Rio afzakken... ;)
