When Simone Manuel, a black woman, won Olympic swimming gold last night in the 100-meter freestyle, she created a moment for black Americans that I hope we can all appreciate.
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Manuel’s start was solid, and she swam well over the first 50 meters, turning in third. However, another Simone not only won a Gold Medal yesterday, but made history while doing it. Team USA’s Simone Manuel became the first black woman to win an individual Olympic swimming medal. Not only did she tie Canada’s Penny Oleksiak in the 100 m freestyle for Olympic gold at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but they set a world record in the event at 52.70 seconds. “Just being a black woman myself and to see just someone like me, like the color, is just so unbelievable and for her to get an Olympic record is better still”. As part of the American team, he holds the world record in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay.
Bronte faded to fourth, and Cate dropped all the way to sixth at the finish.
So, there is understandably a lot of attention paid to African American swimmers in the spotlight, and it’s something that the 20-year-old Manuel, who is competing in her first Olympics, has had to deal with throughout her career.
“It was an honor to be in the Olympics and make history”, she said.
“I met other minorities who were facing some of the same things that I was, so through that process I didn’t feel so alone”, she said in March.
With the win, she also gave the U.S. its first gold in the women’s 100 free since 1984 – when Nancy Hogshead and Carrie Steinseifer tied.
The Mercury News, based in San Jose, California, published an article on their Olympic coverage with the headline “Olympics: Michael Phelps shares historic night with African-American”.
It wasn’t just the historic race that Simone Manuel had swum, but her emotional reaction that took over social media. She even mentioned “some of the issues with police brutality”.
Before Manuel, there were only a handful of minorities on the US national team. It would be another four years before a black woman made it, in Athens in 2004, when Maritza Correia joined the team. Hers as the first individual swimming gold medal won by a black woman. “It’s for some of the African-Americans that came before me and have been inspirations and mentors to me”.
I’m glad I can be an inspiration to others, but I haven’t really thought about how my life has changed.
Neal pumped Manuel up before the nighttime finals by singing and dancing together.
Manuel, born in Texas, now attends Stanford University and is a two-time individual NCAA champion, winning the 50m and 100m freestyle events in 2015.
RIO DE JANEIRO-As an African-American swimmer, Simone Manuel has carried a weight on her shoulders every time she steps onto the starting blocks. I work just as hard as anybody else.
Her post-race interview was one of the most emotional ones of the entire Olympics.
“It is something I’ve definitely struggled with a lot”, Manuel said. After the race, Manuel said that she hoped her win would inspire others to take up her sport.
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This is because public pools in the United States historically went through extremes to keep black people away.
