African American Simone Manuel broke Australia’s Cate Campbell world record holder to astonishingly win an Olympic gold medal in a single swimming event at Rio 2016.
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Take, for example, the stories of USA swimmer Simone Manuel and US gymnast Simone Biles during the first week of the 2016 Rio Olympics. Since this photo has gone viral, other mother’s have posted photos of their children some using the hashtag #shegotnext.
I was having a conversation with a gentleman the other day about why the Simone Manuel’s gold medal winning swimming performance in the Rio Olympics was such a big deal among so many African-Americans. The Olympian says she had plans already upon arrival to Houston: to get some Shipley’s donuts. This and many others have been the bad path for African-Americans when it comes to swimming. In the minutes and hours after tears streamed down her face as the Star-Spangled Banner played, she spoke about how she wanted the medal to be for those who came before her and those who thought they couldn’t do this.
She was welcomed by her family, friends, city leaders, and fans. “Our main goal is to shatter the myth that Black people don’t swim”. When she became the first black gymnastics world champion in 2013, Carlotta Ferlito, an Italian gymnast, told a journalist that she had joked with a friend that they should “also paint our skin black, so then we could win, too”.
“Their parents or their grandparents are afraid of the water as well”, said Trey Adams. I love seeing the way she attacks things. “I haven’t really gotten a chance to take everything in, but that’s OK because I want to do well in the rest of my events this week”.
USA gymnast Laurie Hernandez knew she was a victor the second she took the mat for her floor routine last Tuesday.
At the time, Ervin was the first person of African-American heritage to win a gold medal.
The paper has since changed the headline to “Stanford’s Simone Manuel and Michael Phelps make history”.
The pair finished in an Olympic record of 52.70 seconds. She will retire from swimming at the conclusion of these Games to start her business career.
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“She will not only save kids’ lives, but inspire kids to use aquatics”, he said. “I met her a year ago, and we became great friends”.
