Paula Barila Bolopa (born 12 October 1979),
nicknamed 'The Crawler', is a retired
Equatoguinean
Equatorial Guinea ( es, Guinea Ecuatorial; french: Guinée équatoriale; pt, Guiné Equatorial), officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea ( es, link=no, República de Guinea Ecuatorial, french: link=no, République de Guinée équatoria ...
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
player and
swimmer
Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...
. She was one of two Equatorial Guinean swimmers to
compete
Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indivi ...
at the
2000 Summer Olympics
The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...
in
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
, the other being
Eric Moussambani
Eric Moussambani Malonga (born 31 May 1978) is an Equatoguinean swimmer. Nicknamed Eric the Eel by the media, Moussambani won brief international fame at the 2000 Summer Olympics for an extremely unlikely victory. Moussambani, who had never se ...
.
Biography
Originally a footballer, who played for women's first division side E Waiso Ipola, she was submitted to a swimming trials to participate at the 2000 Olympic Games and was selected after a month and a half of training.
Following Moussambani's struggling but courageous performance in the men's 100 metres freestyle event, the media turned their attention to his female compatriot. According to ''
The Telegraph
''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include:
Australia
* ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...
'', "the spectator gallery was almost full as the news spread that a female Eric was making an appearance."
["Swimming: Next to Paula Eric the Eel is electric"](_blank)
Martin Johnson, ''The Telegraph'', 7 November 2000 A correspondent for ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' reported:
:"Paula Barila Bolopa, still dripping wet from her swim, was under siege. Tape recorders were being thrust in her face and an interpreter was translating her comments from Spanish for American television stations. Somebody passed her a mobile phone so she could talk live to a radio presenter in Madrid and when she was asked whether she had signed any autographs since fame embraced her, she furrowed her brow in indignation. "Muchos," she said. She and Celebrity had quickly become fast friends."
Barila Bolopa competed in the women's 50 metres freestyle, and finished last in her heat with a time of 01:03.97, which was double the second-worst time, and reportedly the slowest time in Olympic history for that event. She received loud support and encouragement from spectators.
["Heroic Losers"](_blank)
Agence France-Presse, 18 July 2008
Barila Bolopa gained entry to the Olympics without meeting the minimum qualification requirements via a
wildcard
Wild card most commonly refers to:
* Wild card (cards), a playing card that substitutes for any other card in card games
* Wild card (sports), a tournament or playoff place awarded to an individual or team that has not qualified through normal pla ...
draw designed to encourage participation by
developing countries
A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreem ...
without expensive training facilities. Equatorial Guinea only had two pools, neither of them Olympic-sized, and she had never swam in a 50-metre pool before. After the race, she commented: "It's the first time I've swam 50 metres. It was further than I thought. I was very tired."
["'Paula the Crawler' sets record"](_blank)
BBC, 22 September 2000
The
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
commented: "Bolopa and Moussambani have become two of the stars of the Sydney Olympics much like
the spirit of Eddie the Eagle".
reported that she had "gained Olympic hero status", and commented: "She brought out the spectators' affection for a courageous, have-a-go hero who dared to compete knowing she would probably be the worst-ever Olympian in that event."
Barila worked as a supermarket cashier at the time of the Games.