“I’ve always said that I didn’t need a gold medal to have self-worth and I guess that that’s being put to the test at the moment”, said Cate. Swimming, in particular, holds history of racial discrimination, in which black people were denied access to swimming pools, among other systemic disparities affecting black communities.
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“It kind of feels like a mini-Olympics in a way, because you know how they stay in hotels, we’re staying in the same room as everyone”, said Steffens-Benoit who is sharing a Steinbach hotel room with her team mates.
Sixteen-year-old sensation Oleksiak and 20-year-old Manuel, both very much part of a new wave in swimming, touched the wall in 52.70 secs as the crowd gasped at the times flashing up on the scoreboard.
As the youngest sibling and the only girl, Manuel has spent her lifetime sharpening her competitive streak. Last night Manuel was, it seems impossible to believe, the first black American woman to stand on the top podium in an individual swimming event at the Olympics, just like Mitcham was the first out gay man to do so eight years ago. But Manuel has struggled with embracing her role as, as she said, a “black swimmer”, and shoving it aside.
I have friends whose parents, convinced that their children would drown, kept them as far away from swimming pools and rivers and lakes and oceans as humanly possible. “I want to be an inspiration, but I would like there to be a day when it is not ‘Simone the black swimmer.’ The title of black swimmer suggests that I am not supposed to win golds or break records, but that’s not true because I train hard and want to win just like everyone else”. She still keeps in touch with her first coach, even inviting her to this year’s Olympic trials in Omaha.
“It’s been a long journey, and I’m super excited with where it has brought me”, she said. She was right back in the pool on Friday, qualifying 11th in the 50-meter freestyle preliminaries. At the turn, she trailed by.47 of a second – the basketball equivalent of a 15-point halftime deficit. Manuel tweeted after her gold-medal performance. In tonight’s final, Campbell finished sixth.
Oleksiak’s win is also historic. Instead, Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom won a bronze medal after finishing 0.29 behind the winners. (I continued to cry as NBC turned to gymnastics, where African American Simone Biles killed it at every turn and took home more gold!).
Both Oleksiak and Manuel reached for the wall.
“It kind of just shows that it can happen and that it’s a realistic goal”, said Steffens-Benoit.
Simone Manuel’s reaction to winning was priceless and is something I will never, ever forget.
But, then, as I looked around at the pool and the beach, I realized that my husband and son were nearly always the only black swimmers there.
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Until now, Cullen Jones had been the face of swimming for minorities in America, having won two golds and two silvers at the previous two Olympics.
