'The Eel' sheds tag of world's slowest

Eric 'The Eel' Moussambani, the most celebrated failure of the Sydney Olympics, delighted spectators at the World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, yesterday by not finishing last.

Moussambani won the first heat of the men's 50m freestyle in a time of 31.88 seconds to finish in 88th place out of 91 swimmers. The title of world's slowest swimmer has now officially passed to Antigua's Glyn Tonge, who could only manage an abysmal 37.75sec – 16 seconds slower than Alex Popov's world record.

Moussambani has travelled the world as an unlikely elebrity since his infamous appearance in the 100m freestyle in the 2000 Olympics. Swimming on his own, Moussambani had the 17,000 crowd in uproar as he struggled to finish the two lengths in a slower time than it took Australia's Ian Thorpe to swim four.

Many thought the life guard would be called in to rescue the swimmer from Equatorial Guinea, who had only ever swum in a local river, which he shared with crocodiles, or a hotel pool, which he shared with the public.

Promised a 50m pool to train in, Moussambani has three more years to climb up the world rankings before Athens in 2004.