Interesting that the boats are called “canoes”.  Funny video in the lower third (left) of screen.

Watched this video and was as impressed with the comments as with the race:

EduceU 99, 5 months ago, I’m sure his participation increased interest in the sport in his country and the neighboring countries. I love the Olympics because it’s about giving people hope and inspiring youth to dream. Also, how often do you see people from poorer countries in rowing, sailing…any other sport that requires quite a lot of money/resources. Although they have A standards for time for the other athletes, I don’t think his time was TOO terrible – just a couple minutes off the leading time so I think the wildcard entry was totally fine given what it achieved – didn’t interfere with the other athletes’ performance and it was hugely inspiring and entertaining to the public. Yay!

ThePathfinders Journal, 1 year ago, Coming in at that time with only 3 months of rowing is actually very impressive. I know people who have dedicated years and still struggle to hit the 8:30 mark. Makes me wonder what he could do if he had significantly more time to train.

General Clasher , 1 year ago, Remember Kenya and Ethiopia 1956, of course no one does. They won nothing, they were like this guy. 1960 first Ethiopian won a Gold medal and now we know what happened to your so called good sporting nations who can’t compete in long distances running anymore.