This Ethiopian Olympic swimmer has become an internet sensation after finishing half a lap behind his rivals

A swimmer cruelly dubbed 'Robel the Whale' has become an internet sensation after finishing half a lap behind his Olympic rivals in the 100m freestyle.Robel Kiros Habte, from Ethiopia, was ranked 59th out of 59 competitors after taking part in the Preliminary Men's 100m Freestyle heats at Rio's Olympic Aquatics Stadium.Hisperformance, which saw him finish half a lap behind the others, drew comparisons with Eric the Eeel, a Sydney Olympics swimmer who took double the time of his rivals to finish the 100m freestyle but still set a personal best.Despite the athlete's struggles, he got a huge cheer from the Brazilian crowds when he finally finished the race with a time of 1 minute 4.95 seconds.The portly24-year-old's time made him the only competitor not to finish the 100m race in under a minute.Harold Siyaya tweeted afterwards: 'How in the world did this Ethiopian swimmer (Robel Habte) qualify for the Olympics' Overweight & embarrassingly slow.'But sports journalist Jai Bednall wrote: 'First cheer at the #Rio2016 pool goes to Ethiopia's Robel Habte. Not quite Eric the Eel but close.'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, 2016And Dale Miller tweeted: 'Ethiopia's Robel Kiros Habte finishes half a lap behind other swimmers in 100m free heat.'Gets huge cheer after finishing. Love it.'Ethiopia's Robel Kiros Habte finishes half a lap behind other swimmers in 100m free heat. Gets huge cheer after finishing. Love it #Rio2016' Dale Miller (@miller_dj) August 9, 2016Habte told news agency Reuters afterwards that he was happy with the performance.He said: "I wanted to do something different for my country, that's why I chose swimming."Everybody, every day you wake up in Ethiopia, you run. Not swimming. But I didn't want to run, I wanted to be a swimmer."It didn't matter where I finished."Join the conversation about this storyNOW WATCH: This all-black superyacht is the dream of billionaires around the world
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