“And after prelims and semifinals and seeing where I was sitting, when I came in tonight I was like, ‘I want to get on that medal stand.’ Just surpassing that goal and getting an American record on top of a gold medal is super exciting for me”.
Advertisement
Mom didn’t have an answer. “Every chance I get on those blocks and he’s right there, it’s awesome”, Lochte said of Phelps, who was in the adjacent lane.
After not crying at the team competition, Biles and Raisman ruined their makeup Thursday with tears of joy.
Putting the gulf between herself and the rest of the world on full display, the 19-year-old Biles became the fourth straight American woman to win the Olympic all-around title and fifth overall while cementing her reputation as the best of her generation and perhaps ever. When it was over, Marc and Sharron Manuel couldn’t immediately see the videoboard with the results.
Simone Manuel became the first African-American woman to win an individual Olympic medal in swimming Thursday night, tying for gold in the 100-meter freestyle with Penny Oleksiak of Canada. Her time of 52.70 seconds was an American and Olympic record.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Oleksiak and Manuel’s victory was the second time the women’s 100m freestyle has ended with a double gold.
Manuel’s start was solid, and she swam well over the first 50 meters, turning in third. She was staying off her phone that froze up because of an overload of text messages and calls. I have no regrets, and I’m just very excited, but then again, I do have two gold medals now, but it doesn’t change who I am.
Simone Manuel leaned her head into her hands and cried when she recognized her historic achievement. She mentioned “some of the issues with police brutality”.
“It made me not think about things too much and made me more confident”, Raisman said. “I went out there and swam as fast as I could, and my color just comes with the territory”. “She understands that it’s a part of it”. The Fierce Five veteran, now 22 and captain of the newly-coined Final Five, also hit on beam in rotation three and then delivered an Olympic-sized floor routine to give the US the gold and silver medals. The three-time world champion finished with a total of 62.198 points, 2.1 ahead of Raisman to add the Rio Games all-around title to her closetful of gold medals.
Still in the water, Manuel smiled and hugged Bronte Campbell of Australia.
“I would have loved to go out there and defend my title, but right now I’m just rejoicing and so far this has just been an unbelievable experience”, she said. Indeed, she was far behind the others in the pool, including Australian favorites Cate and Bronte Campbell. Manuel learned Mandarin as a result.
Her brothers chose a different yet equally competitive sport: basketball. That inspired and motivated her to keep going. Only a major mishap would have prevented her coronation, and she never falls. It’s insane to think Ryan and I have been on Olympic and national teams since 2004. None had ever before won an individual Olympic medal in swimming.
“From 1976 to 2016 that’s quite a few years and the gymnastics is so different and the skills are more hard”. Black children drown at a rate almost three times higher than their white peers. In the 1960s, many whites left cities for private pools and clubs in the suburbs, where segregation continued to exist.
This year, the Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio noted that Biles, Olympic medalist Gabby Douglas and Olympic first-timer Laurie Hernandez make up the most diverse gymnastics team in United States 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.
And Manuel hopes she can just be a swimmer and a champion without her race being a factor.
Advertisement
“It means a lot [to be the first black woman to earn gold in the pool]”, Manuel said after the race. “I want to win just like anybody else”. “You might be pretty good at it”.
