Springfield, Mass. (WWLP) – United States swimmer Simone Manuel and Canadian swimmer Penny Oleksiak tied for a gold medal in the women’s 100 meter freestyle.
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Manuel’s face broke into an heart-wraming mix of shock and joy as she realized her accomplishment.
And McClendon has encouraged African American children across the country to join swim teams and promoting diversity in the sport as she did earlier this year in Atlanta.
Manuel’s American teammate Abbey Weitzeil failed to advance to finals after posting the fifth-slowest time in semifinals (24.67). Cullen Jones was the best known, having won two golds and two silvers at the last two Olympics.
After her win, Manuel shared a sentiment that came unscripted, straight from the heart, yet could not have delivered a more ideal message.
“I was like, “Oh I’m on the medal stand, ‘ ” Manuel said”. Generations of black Americans could have learned to swim just as well as anyone.
Manuel said that the gold medal wasn’t just for her but for the people who inspired her to keep swimming.
Stanford junior Simone Manuel had a look of disbelief.
Manuel also won a silver medal in the women’s 4×100 meter freestyle relay. Dominique Dawes, the first female African-American gymnast to win an individual medal at the Olympics, posted on Instagram that her daughter woke “from a deep sleep for a few seconds to watch Simone Biles finish her floor routine” to help her team win gold this week.
“Just knowing that somebody like me, that sounds kind of weird to say, but somebody like me can do something that extraordinary”, Mason said. “So they automatically put the idea in their heads that “since I don’t know how to swim, you’re not going to know how to swim because I don’t feel comfortable with you being in the water”. The network was showing Russian gymnastics while Manuel was receiving her gold medal. She is breaking barriers and stereotypes of African-American and swimming with her win, unfortunately, San Jose Mercury News proves she how much more improvement is needed. In the 1960s, many whites left cities for private pools and clubs in the suburbs, where segregation continued to exist.
“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”. It’s for all the people after me, who believe they can’t do it.
“I want to be her one day”, Knox said.
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“The title of black swimmer suggests that I am not supposed to win golds or break records, but that’s not true because I train hard and want to win just like everyone else”, Ms. Manuel said.
