As Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky continue to shock the world in the pool, another swimmer is grabbing all sorts of attention worldwide.
Meet Robel Kiros Habte.
Habte hails from Ethiopia but accomplished something no athlete wants on their resume.
He finished 59th out of 59 swimmers in the men's 100m freestyle race. Yes, that's right. Last place. Habte was a full 12 seconds behind the 2nd place finisher, but he still managed to receive applause from Olympic attendees.
First cheer at the #Rio2016 pool goes to Ethiopia's Robel Habte. Not quite Eric the Eel but close. pic.twitter.com/JlByyBm0O2
— Jai Bednall (@jaibednall) August 9, 2016
On social media, however, many are celebrating him.
While some have criticized his weight compared to other athletes, others are firing back at the haters.
Ethiopians on social media have accused Habte of nepotism, saying he's not the best swimmer in their country. They believe he received a chance to swim in Rio because his father is the head of Ethiopia's swimming federation.
#RobelHabte overweight, slow, reaching #Rio2016 has NOTHING to do with his dad being #Ethiopia 's Swim fed president pic.twitter.com/EDB00CPDUe
— Zecharias Zelalem (@ZekuZelalem) August 10, 2016
Habte, who is still in college, tells Reuters that he is fine with the way things turned out.
"I am so happy because it is my first competition in the Olympics," Habte said. "So thanks for God."
FINA, swimming's world body, says they gave Habte a special invitation to compete as an athlete from under-represented countries.
