On the final night of swimming in Rio, Manuel won a silver in the 50-meter freestyle and then helped the United States 400-meter medley relay team to gold.
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She also won two relay medals: A gold in the 4×200 freestyle, and a silver in the 4×100 freestyle.
“This medal is not just for me”, she said after the race.
It was the first victory by the U.S.in the women’s 100 free since 1984, when Nancy Hogshead and Carrie Steinseifer also shared gold.
Now, two years later, 19-year-old Biles has won all-around gold at the Olympic Games – and the jeers coming from her critics has been replaced with cheers.
With four medals, Simone Manuel is now tied for second place for most medals from a Stanford athlete in a single Olympics.
“Nothing about the top layer of your skin has to do with swimming”, another said.
“I hope I can be an inspiration for others”.
Martenzie is a senior researcher for The Undefeated.
I don’t know, so let’s look it up, ‘ ” said Sharron Manuel, Simone’s mother. I love watching her swim, absolutely love it.
“I just wanted to re-focus and move forward from the 100”, she said.
I confess that collectively some days our grief and frustration just seem too much to bear.
“I opened the door to the room, and she got up and gave me a hug and said, ‘I wasn’t going to fall asleep until I gave you a hug, ‘ and that really meant a lot to me”, said Manuel, who gave the USA a gold medal in the event for the first time since 1984.
Simone Manuel’s historic Olympic win is inspiring young swimmers in the African-American community in Houston. “Just being a black woman myself and to see just someone like me, like the color, is just so incredible and for her to get an Olympic record is better still”.
That troubling history has led to an oft-cited statistic from USA Swimming, based on studies conducted by their researchers and others from the University of Memphis, that some 70 percent of black people can’t swim. “When she hit the wall, I jumped up”.
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Bryan McAlpine, head coach at Monarch Park Collegiate in Toronto, told reporters Friday that he and fellow teachers thought she Oleksiak was incredible, but despite seeing her build “more and more momentum” before the Games, they “never would have predicted anything like this”. But I do hope it kind of goes away.
