In an interview with The Guardian, Manuel said she did not expect she’d win a gold medal. We will stream Simone Manuel’s arrival live here on abc13.com around 5:25am.
Advertisement
“The title “black swimmer” makes it seem like I am not supposed to be able to win a gold medal, I am not supposed to be able to break the Olympic record, and that is not true, as I work as hard as anybody else, and I love the sport, and I want to win, just like everybody else”.
Cardinal swimmer Simone Manuel made history at the Rio Olympics when she won a gold medal in the 100-meter freestyle. She also won gold in a medley relay, silver in the 50-meter freestyle and silver in another medley relay.
While the world and social media lauded her milestone, Manuel didn’t have time to celebrate.
“I didn’t know this”, Manuel said Friday of the celebrity tweets, “but [swimmer] Lia Neal sent me a screen shot of it [Friday] morning, so I think that’s pretty cool”.
“Then my husband saw Olympic record and saw she had gotten first”, Sharron told The Associated Press by phone Friday. She swam for UGA – the first to earn a spot on any U.S. Olympic swim team.
Ledecky’s name will go down in history next to Debbie Meyer’s as the only female swimmers ever to win three individual freestyle events at one Games.
Her parents were in the stands behind the medal podium at the Olympic Aquatics Center on Thursday night to see their daughter swim her signature event at the Rio Games.
“I’m super glad with the fact that I can be an inspiration for others and hopefully diversify the sport”. ‘I just want to be an inspiration to others that you can do it’.
It’s safe to say American Olympic swimmer Simone Manuel has become the breakout star in Rio. Bronte’s final length was 28.00, and she finished fourth.
“I don’t remember much of it over the last 15 meters”, Manuel said. They both touched. A single light – indicating first – lit up on the starting block.
“I was just swimming my races”.
Manuel is the first African American woman to medal in an individual swimming event.
But she also embraced it.
“Someone just came in my office asking for a pair of goggles just because they watched the Olympics last night and got motivated”, he said.
Advertisement
Asked if her gold medal was also a message of “tolerance and diversity”, she said, “Yeah, it means a lot, especially with what is going in the world today”.
