Naomi Ruele, a 19-year-old sophomore at Florida International University, is the first black female swimmer representing her native Botswana in the Olympics. “You never know the feeling until it hits you”, said Biles, who became the first reigning world champion in the women’s individual all-around to claim the Olympic title in the same event since 1996, when Lilia Podkopayeva from Ukraine triumphed.
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We’re not an unusual African-American family.
Great Britain have won 11 medals including one three so far, but expect that to change rapidly as the track cycling gets under way in the Rio Olympic Velodrome. After preparation that took a lifetime, Manuel thus became a role model in less than a minute.
Maritza Correia McClendon, an Olympic medalist in swimming, tweeted, “Waking up and still in shock and so proud of you Simone Manuel”. “I deserve to be here, and I deserve this medal. This medal is for the people who come behind me and get into the sport and hopefully find love and drive to get to this point”.
Simone Manuel hopes she can just be a swimmer and also a champion without her race by being a factor.
Manuel’s victory is especially significant considering the historical racial segregation in the U.S.
Simone Manuel, a 20-year-old black female swimmer, and Simone Biles, a 19-year-old black female gymnast, dominated in two sports in which most U.S. competitors are white. A gold-silver finish not just for Australia, but for the Campbell family of Brisbane, seemed plausible.
Manuel, who celebrated her 20th birthday last week, is from Sugar Land, Texas and multi-time NCAA All-American for the Stanford Cardinal in college. But it meant a lot to her country, as well.
“It’s been a long journey for me”, she said after the race. “Just surpassing that goal and getting an American record on top of a gold medal is super exciting for me”. “And that’s not true”.
Manuel broke down in tears and covered her face when she realized what she had achieved. No, she recovered from a poor start in the 100-meter freestyle, blazed at the turn and won gold.
“This is unbelievable, to tie for a gold”.
Stanford junior Simone Manuel had a look of disbelief. She helped the USA women’s team to second in the 4x100m freestyle race. Doing so resulted in their gold and bronze medals being revoked.
Manuel was swimming her own 50-meter heat Friday morning and didn’t get to hear the words of her fellow trailblazers. And here came Manuel and Oleksiak. “Simone’s win resonated with me as a black woman”.
Manuel’s passion for the sport extends beyond the pool.
Both swimmers embraced when they realised it was a dead-heat.
“I’ve actually met Simone a few times and I think she is an incredible person”, Scott said. But she knows, too, that when Michael Phelps wins a race, he can just break it down. It’s a kind of pressure that she had to learn to compartmentalize.
“This medal is not just for me, it’s for the African-Americans who have come before me and been an inspiration”, Manuel said afterward.
The headline was posted on the newspaper’s website, but quickly removed and replaced with one carrying Manuel’s name with Phelps’.
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Two black women named Simone have captured our hearts during the Summer Olympics in Rio.
