Ryan Murphy – While he may not have the profile of a Phelps or a Ledecky, the swimmer (who now has two gold medals to his name) could be a good Olympian to get from the perspective of America getting to know him better.
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RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – Simone Manuel leaned her head into her hands and cried when she recognized her historic achievement. “I met her a year ago, and we became great friends”.
Tears rolled down Manuel’s cheeks as she sang along. “I went out there and swam as fast as I could, and my color just comes with the territory”.
Manuel became the first African-American woman to win a gold medal in an individual swimming event for the United States.
As noted by CNN Sports, 19-year-old Biles was able to show skeptics that she could cope with the pressure and live up to the “hype” around her.
African Americans make up just 1.3 percent of USA Swimming’s 337,084 members, according to the governing body’s 2015 membership data.
“I am fortunate that I have two older brothers and they have definitely helped me with being competitive just to keep up with them”, she told USA Swimming.
As Simone Biles stood locked in a tight embrace with her team mate Aly Raisman, waiting for her final score to come up on the big screen, the concerned look in her eyes suggested she had no idea who would be crowned Olympic all around champion.
“I’m an incredible fan and she’s an unbelievable Olympic champion but time will tell if she will become the greatest of all time as it’s too early to say that”.
Penny’s coach calls her “gifted more than most people”.
She started swimming at a pool near her childhood home in Brooklyn, New York, where the other kids were mostly Chinese from her school located in Chinatown.
“When we are in the same room it is very hard to have a conversation because we don’t know who is talking to which Simone”, Manuel said. She knew she had an opportunity to effect change, to promote a different story, to inspire a new generation that wouldn’t have to believe in long-held stereotypes.
As the federal government began enforcing integration measures in the 1960s, white people responded by building more private pools, allowing for de facto segregation that was protected under the law.
The BBC recognizes Manuel’s success and says that Simone’s win is especially important because “African-Americans have been shut out of swimming pools for generations”. “I hope that I can be an inspiration for others”.
But one Canadian record she’ll nearly definitely never touch is most Olympic appearances, which is held by equestrian athlete Ian Millar.
“This medal is not just for me, it’s for some of the African-Americans who have been before me and been inspirations”, she said.
“If you win gold or silver but you’re dry, boring as wallpaper, then you’re not going to be a good athlete for a sponsor”, said Monica LaBarge, a marketing professor at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont.
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Manuel, who swims collegiately at Stanford, eventually took part in a historical NCAA championship race.
