Eric Moussambani - Similarly-acclaimed Athletes

Similarly-acclaimed Athletes

In subsequent Olympic Games, international media occasionally referred to Moussambani's potential successors — athletes who might record spectacularly poor times. Prior to the 2008 Summer Olympics, media in several countries—including Australia, Denmark, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom—suggested that Stany Kempompo Ngangola, a swimmer from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, would be the Olympics' next "Eric the Eel". In the London 2012 olympic rower Hamadou Djibo Issaka of Niger was compared to Eric the Eel for also becoming notorious in the games for a poor time. The 35 year old gardener and pool attendant has appeared in the British media also, and has been in interviews hoping other people get into the sport. Issaka had only been training for three months prior to the games, and says he was fortunate not to tip the boat over in the start up.

The media also described ni-Vanuatu sprinter Elis Lapenmal and Palestinian swimmer Hamza Abdu as "potential successors to Moussambani". During the Games, Cook Islands swimmer Petero Okotai compared himself to "Eric the Eel" upon recording a disappointing time in his event. During the 2009 IAAF World Championships various media around the world, including La Nación and the Daily Telegraph, described American Samoan sprinter Savannah Sanitoa as "the new Eric 'the Eel' Moussambani".