“This medal is not just for me”, Manuel is quoted as saying in the story.
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In just over a week Biles and Manuel will be headed home, both hailed as trailblazers and more famous than they could ever have imagined.
United States’ gold medal victor Simone Manuel cries during the medal ceremony for the women’s 100-meter freestyle final during the swimming competitions at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
When Simone Manuel touched the wall of the pool in the women’s 100-meter freestyle race Thursday at the Rio Olympics, she turned around, her eyes searching for the clock.
Mom didn’t have an answer.
But there’s another reason why her record really matters: She’s a serious outlier. “I want to thank everyone who has supported me over the years”. I don’t know, so let’s look it up, ‘ ” said Sharron Manuel, Simone’s mother.
Ryan Murphy, Men’s 100m Backstroke – With Murphy’s record-setting victory at 51.97 seconds, Team USA has won the gold in this event in six consecutive Olympics. In 52.70 cathartic seconds, she reminded us.
“Then my husband saw Olympic record and saw she had gotten first”, Sharron told The Associated Press by phone Friday. She’d like to remain free of the burden, and not because she doesn’t want to be a role model. Sharron said her daughter has understood for some time that this sport will give her a platform to share a message with the world, and she’ll always support Manuel speaking her mind in a thoughtful way.
Michael Phelps of the USA, center, jokes with fellow silver medal winners Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh, left, and South Africa’s Chad Le Clos, right, in the men’s 100-meter butterfly final on Friday. “I was like, ‘I’ll take it!'”
Mercury News referred to Simone Manuel as the “African-American” because she won the same night as decorated Olympian swimmer Michael Phelps. After her win, she mentioned police brutality in the US and said she hoped her victory helps mend the nation’s racial divide in some way.
After giving sobering and mature remarks on the significance of her win in the light of the current state of racial relations in America, she said she hoped to one day simply be known for her own efforts, and not as “the black swimmer”. “She would like to be recognized for her merits and dedication”. “She’s an incredible athlete but it just pales in the comparison to the person she is”. “She understands that it’s a part of it”. “Coming into the race, I tried to take the weight of the black community off my shoulders”.
She put her head in her hands and wept in the pool after she tied 16-year-old Canadian Penny Oleksiak and realized the depth of her achievement.
The teen sensation’s older brother is Jamie Oleksiak, a professional NHL hockey player for the Dallas Stars, while her sister, Hayley, rows for Northeastern University. Nonetheless, her white neighbors were upset, and harassed the teens with racist statements, including telling the teens to go back to “section 8 housing”. Now at Stanford, she is majoring in science, technology and society.
The U.S. has a long history of keeping black folk out of swimming pools and away from public beaches.
Cullen Jones, an Olympic gold medalist in swimming, tweeted, “I am so proud of Simone Manuel”. “She’s a trailblazer for the sport of aquatics, not just for African Americans, but just aquatics, period”. According to USA Swimming statistics, 70 percent of African Americans and 60 percent of Hispanic and Latino children can not swim compared to 40 percent of whites. For kids ages 5-19, black kids drown at rate 5.5 times that of white kids. Three years ago, he couldn’t swim. And once segregation was banned, white people fled to private pools, leaving municipal facilities to languish.
She was interviewed on the Today show Monday morning.
Here’s a closer look at a swimmer who just made history. Congrats also poured in from Tony Award-winning actor and writer Lin-Manuel Miranda of the Broadway smash “Hamilton” and NBA Hall of Famer Magic Johnson. “They might be pretty good at it”.
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